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LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

warns  , 


4 


A.  WILLIAM  O.  SCROGGS 

Louisiana  State  University 

B.  WILLIAM  S.  SUTTON 

University  of  Texas 
c.  JAMES  M.  FARR 

University  of  Florida 

D.  R.  P.  BROOKS 

University  of  Georgia 

E.  W.  M.  HUNLEY 

Virginia  Military  Institute, 
formerly  University  of  Virginia 


F.  DAVID  YANCEY  THOMAS 

University  of  Arkansas 

G.  E.  C.  BRANSON 

University  of  North  Carolina 
H.  Jos  i AH  MORSE 

University  of  South  Carolina 
i.  JAMES  D.  HOSKINS 

University  of  Tennessee 
j.  JAMES  J.  DOSTER 

University  of  Alabama 
K.  WILLIAM  L.  KENNON 

University  of  Mississippi 


PRESENT   MEMBERS   OF  THE   COMMISSION 


MINUTES 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

ON 

SOUTHERN  RACE  QUESTIONS 


LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

DAVIS 


NOTE — Copies  of  this  publication  may  be  had  by  applying  to  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Commission,  Box  722,  Lexington,  Va.,  or  to  Miss  G.  C.  Mann, 
Box  418,  Charlottesville,  Va. 


Contents 

PAGE 

Organization  Meeting,  Nashville,  May  24,  1912 5 

Second  Meeting,  University  of  Georgia,  December  19,  20,  1912 6 

Third  Meeting,  Richmond,  Hampton  Institute  and  University  of  Vir 
ginia,  December  18,  19,  20,  1913 12 

Fourth  Meeting,  Washington,  D.  C,  December  14,  15,  1914 18 

Fifth  Meeting,  Montgomery  and  Tuskegee  Institute,  May  5,  6,  7,  1915 24 

Sixth  Meeting,  Durham,  N.  C.,  Trinity  College  and  University  of  North 

Carolina,  January  4,  5,  1916 32 

Seventh  Meeting,  Blue  Ridge  and  Asheville,  Aug.  30,  31,  Sept.  1,  1916 38 

Eighth  Meeting,  Washington,  D.  C.,  August  29,  30,  31,  1917 41 

Appendix- 
Open  Letters  to  the  College  Men  of  the  South 45 

Work  of  the  Commission,  by  Dr.  (now  Governor)  C.  H.  Brough 49 

Report  of  Committee  on  the  Civic  Status  of  the  Negro,  by  Prof. 
W    O.  Scropr2rs.  Chairman  53 

OO     ' 

Report  of  Committee  on  Economics,  by  Prof.  R.  J.  H.  DeLoach, 
Chairman  63 

The  Economic  Condition  of  the  Negroes  of  Knoxville,  by  R.  G. 
Sanford  69 

An  Open  Letter  on  Lynching  to  the  Stuttgart  (Ark.)  Committee, 
by  Prof.  D.  Y.  Thomas 72 

Index  74 


"I  am  very  glad  to  express  my  sincere  interest  in  this  work  and  sympathy 
with  it." 

— President  Wilson  to  the  Commission, 

December  15,  1914. 


UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  ON  SOUTHERN  RACE 

QUESTIONS 

ORGANIZATION  MEETING,  NASHVILLE,  MAY  24,   1912 

The  organization  meeting  of  the  University  Commission  on  Southern 
Race  Questions  was  held  at  the  call  of  Dr.  James  H.  Dillard  at  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  Building,  Nashville,  Tenn.>  on  the  morning  of 
May  24,  1912.  Dr.  Dillard  presided  and  outlined  his  purpose  in  calling 
together  representatives  of  eleven  Southern  State  universities,  which  was  to 
foster  a  scientific  approach  to  the  study  of  the  race  question  in  the  South. 
He  stated  that  he  had  visited  eleven  State  universities,  and  had  found  in  each 
a  cordial  response  to  the  plan  of  establishing  a  University  Commission  on 
Race  Relations,  with  the  idea  that  such  Commission  should  consult  with 
leading  men  in  both  races,  should  endeavor  to  keep  informed  in  regard  to  the 
relations  existing  between  the  races,  and  should  aim  especially  to  influence 
Southern  College  men  to  approach  the  subject  with  intelligent  information 
and  with  sympathetic  interest.  Dr.  Dillard  reviewed  existing  race  conditions 
in  the  South  as  he  saw  them,  and  then  called  upon  the  members  individually 
for  an  informal  expression  of  opinion.  Each  member  of  the  Commission 
responded  briefly. 

The  Commission  was  composed  of  one  representative  from  each  of  eleven 
State  universities  in  the  South,  as  follows : 

James  J.  Doster,  University  of  Alabama. 
C.  H.  Brough,  University  of  Arkansas. 
James  M.  Farr,  University  of  Florida. 
R.  J.  H.  DeLoach,  University  of  Georgia. 
W.  O.  Scroggs,  Louisiana  State  University. 
W.  D.  Hedleston,  University  of  Mississippi. 
Charles  W.  Bain,  University  of  North  Carolina. 
Josiah  Morse,  University  of  South  Carolina. 
James  D.  Hoskins,  University  of  Tennessee. 
W.  S.  Sutton,  University  of  Texas. 
William  M.  Hunley,  University  of  Virginia. 

Dr.  W.  D.  Weatherford,  who  was  invited  to  sit  with  the  Commission, 
explained  the  nature  of  his  work  on  race  matters  in  the  South. 

Professor  Brough  was  chosen  chairman,  and  Professor  Hunley,  secre 
tary.  The  Commission  then  adjourned  to  the  meeting  of  the  section  on  the 


6  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

race  question  of  the  Southern  Sociological  Congress,  having  previously 
decided  to  hold  its  next  meeting  on  December  19,  1912,  at  the  University  of 
Georgia,  Athens,  Ga. 

SECOND  MEETING,  UNIVERSITY  OF  GEORGIA,  DECEMBER  19  AND  20,  1912 

The  second  meeting  of  the  University  Commission  on  Southern  Race 
Questions  was  held  at  the  University  of  Georgia,  Athens,  Ga.,  December  19 
and  20,  1912.  Professor  Brough,  chairman  of  the  Commission,  presided. 
Three  sessions  were  held,  at  noon  and  at  8  o'clock  p.  M.  of  the  19th,  and  at 
9  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  20th.  All  three  sessions  were  held  in  the 
office  of  Chancellor  Barrow,  of  the  university.  Those  present  were: 

Professor  Doster,  University  of  Alabama. 
Professor  Brough,  University  of  Arkansas. 
Professor  Farr,  University  of  Florida. 
Professor  DeLoach,  University  of  Georgia. 
Professor  Scroggs,  Louisiana  State  University. 

Chancellor  Kincannon,  representing  Professor  Hedleston,  University  of 
Mississippi. 

Professor  Bain,  University  of  North  Carolina. 
Professor  Morse,  University  of  South  Carolina. 
Professor  Sutton,  University  of  Texas. 
Professor  Hunley,  University  of  Virginia. 
Dr.  Dillard,  president  of  the  Jeanes  Foundation. 
Chancellor  Barrow,  University  of  Georgia. 

Professor  Hoskins  was  unable  to  attend  on  account  of  illness. 

Dr.  Dillard,  Chancellor  Barrow,  and  President  S.  C.  Mitchell,  of  the 
University  of  South  Carolina,  were  elected  as  an  Advisory  Committee. 

The  question  whether  the  Commission  should  permit  visitors  to  attend 
the  sessions  was  considered.  An  invitation  to  sit  with  the  Commission  was 
extended  to  such  members  of  the  faculty  of  the  University  of  Georgia  as 
Chancellor  Barrow  should  name.  It  was  decided  that  other  persons  might 
attend  at  the  invitation  of  the  Commission. 

Such  invitation  was  extended  to  Mrs.  J.  D.  Hammond,  of  Georgia; 
Mr.  T.  J.  Woofter,  Jr.,  Phelps-Stokes  Fellow  at  the  University  of  Georgia; 
and  Dr.  J.  E.  Spingarn,  of  New  York,  for  the  session  on  the  morning  of 
December  20. 

The  secretary  read  a  communication  from  Dr.  J.  Franklin  Jameson, 
director  of  the  Department  of  Historical  Research,  Carnegie  Institution^ 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  7 

Washington,  D.  C.,  requesting  that  the  Commission  cooperate  with  him  in 
the  preparation  of  a  history  of  the  Negro  in  the  United  States.  The  secre 
tary  was  directed  to  advise  Dr.  Jameson  that  the  Commission  could  not 
comply  with  his  request,  but  that  the  members,  if  consulted  individually, 
would  be  glad  to  aid  him  in  any  way  feasible. 

The  evening  session  was  devoted  to  a  general  discussion  of  the  race  ques 
tion.  The  discussion  followed  in  the  main  an  outline  which  had  been  pre 
pared  and  sent  to  each  member  by  Dr.  Dillard,  as  follows : 

I.     What  are  the  conditions? 

(a)  Religious:   Contributions,  excessive  denominationalism,  lack  of 

the  practical  in  preaching,  etc. 

(b)  Educational:   Self-help,  Northern  contributions,  public  schools, 

etc. 

(c)  Hygienic:   Whole  question  of  health  and  disease. 

(d)  Economic:    Land   ownership,   business   enterprises,    abuse   01 

credit  system,  etc. 

(e)  Civic:    Common  carriers,  courts  of  justice,  franchise,  etc. 
Changes  and  tendencies  in  the  above  conditions. 

Attitude  of  Whites. 

II.     What  should,  and  can,  be  done,  especially  by  Whites,   for  improve 
ment? 
III.     What  may  be  hoped  as  to  future  conditions  and  relations? 

Dr.  Dillard  gave  a  short  talk  and  offered  suggestions  in  four  main 
divisions,  as  follows: 

1.  The  Economic  Advance  of  the  Negro. 

(a)  Is  he  advancing? 

(b)  Is  he  meeting  with  encouragement? 

(c)  Do  the  white  people  of  the  South  really  want  the  Negro  to 

advance  ? 

2.  Education. 

(a)     Are  methods  as  now  employed  the  right  ones? 

3.  Lynching. 

(a)  What  is  the  South's  attitude  toward  lynching? 

(b)  Reaction  upon  Whites  worse  than  effect  upon  Negroes. 

(c)  How  may  conditions  be  improved? 

4.  Attitude  of  Southern  white  people  toward  the  Negro. 

(a)     What  is  it? 


8  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

(b)  Is  it  in  the  main  friendly? 

(c)  Is  the  friendly  feeling  of  the  Whites  toward  the  Negro  growing? 

(d)  How  may  we  help  to  improve  conditions  in  the  best  interests  of 

both  races? 

After  a  round  table  discussion,  in  which  Chancellor  Barrow,  Dr.  Dillard, 
Chancellor  A.  A.  Kincannon,  and  every  member  of  the  Commission  partici 
pated,  the  session  adjourned,  to  meet  again  at  9  o'clock  next  day,  December  20. 

SESSION  9  O'CLOCK  A.  M.,  DECEMBER  20,  1912 

In  calling  the  Commission  to  order,  Professor  Brough  read  a  paper 
entitled,  "Work  of  the  Commission  of  Southern  Universities  on  the  Race 
Question."  [Appendix  B.] 

The  chairman  called  upon  each  member  of  the  Commission  to  tell  of  his 
own  investigations  and  of  his  ideas  as  to  plans  for  the  future  work  of  the 
Commission. 

Professor  DeLoach  said,  in  part: 

"My  investigations  seem  to  show  that  the  Negro  is  very  appreciative  of 
good  advice  and  suggestions  along  all  industrial  lines,  and  will  assimilate  the 
same.  By  actual  demonstration,  here  in  Athens  at  a  farmers'  conference,  I 
have  found  that  each  Negro  present  will  listen  closely  to  advice  one  season, 
and  bring  in  a  report  the  next  season  that  he  made  an  increase  in  yield  of 
farm  crops  of  from  50  cents  to  $5  per  acre,  depending  largely  upon  the 
thriftiness  of  the  individual.  One  young  farmer  increased  his  yield  of  corn 
in  four  years  from  20  to  100  bushels  per  acre  on  a  plot  of  seven  acres.  I  am 
fully  persuaded  that  we  can  not  afford  any  longer  to  let  the  natural  resources 
of  the  South,  so  generally  left  in  the  hands  of  the  Negro,  drift  into  the 
Mississippi  River  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  A  word  to  the  Negroes  may  be 
the  means  of  saving  millions  to  the  South  annually.  It  requires  only  one 
generation  to  waste  natural  resources  in  the  form  of  soil  that  it  has  taken  ages 
to  form,  and  which  can  not  be  regained  in  a  hundred  years.  One  way  to  pre 
vent  the  waste  is  to  give  the  Negro,  who  does  his  full  share  of  wasting,  access 
to  scientific  methods,  especially  since  he  responds  so  readily  to  this  sort  of 
advice.  We  should  find  out  in  dollars  and  cents  just  what  this  advice  would 
be  worth  to  the  Negro  and  to  the  South  and  to  the  nation  annually.  This  can 
be  done  by  circulating  cards  and  blanks  to  be  filled  in  during  the  spring  of 
1913  and  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  after  the  harvest  is  over.  The  success  of 
this  plan  will  depend  largely  upon  how  much  work  is  done  this  winter  in 
advising  the  Negro.  I  shall  carry  out  this  plan  in  part  if  I  have  to  bear  the 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  9 

whole  expense  of  it.  I  believe  heartily  in  this  method  of  helping  to  preserve 
the  soil  of  the  South.  If  each  Negro  farmer  improved  annually  to  the  extent 
of  only  one  dollar,  the  South  would  be  $1,500,000  better  off  next  year. 

"There  are  figures,  that  have  been  carefully  worked  out,  which  tend  to 
show  that  Negroes  do  best  when  reduced  in  numbers  compared  with  the 
white  population.  Dissemination  seems  to  be  the  only  way  to  make  Negroes 
better  citizens  in  industrial,  educational,  and  all  other  lines.  They  do  best 
where  their  opportunity  to  imitate  the  white  people  is  greatest,  and  where 
they  can  get  most  advice." 

Professor  Sutton,  of  the  University  of  Texas,  said  of  the  work  of  the 
Commission : 

"The  problem  to  be  attacked  by  this  Commission  is  extraordinarily 
complex.  The  problems  of  all  the  institutions  of  civilized  life  must  be  con 
sidered — the  problems  of  the  home,  the  church,  the  school,  the  State,  the 
industrial  world,  and  civil  society.  In  a  great  measure  our  work  will  involve 
a  patient  and  careful  examination  of  actual  facts.  This  examination  must  be 
made  before  rational  conclusions  can  be  reached.  The  study  of  concrete 
situations  is  absolutely  necessary.  For  example,  the  study  of  a  community  of 
Negroes  in  Madison  County,  Texas,  will  reveal  whether  the  members  of  that 
community  are  growing  in  wealth,  in  health,  and  in  intellectual,  moral,  and 
religious  power.  A  single  problem  that  should  be  studied  in  this  way  is  that 
of  the  housing  of  the  Negroes  in  the  South.  There  are  many  other  problems 
that  should  be  studied  in  the  same  manner." 

Professor  Doster,  of  the  University  of  Alabama,  presented  his  ideas  as 
to  procedure  in  this  way: 

"1.  The  Commission  should  gather  facts  concerning  the  economic, 
social,  religious,  and  educational  conditions  of  the  Negro. 

"2.  Should  these  facts,  when  collected,  warrant  such  action,  the  Com 
mission  should  urge  the  State  universities  and  other  higher  institutions  of 
learning  in  the  South  to  offer,  through  their  departments  of  sociology  and 
kindred  departments,  courses  dealing  with  race  relations. 

"3.  The  elevation  of  the  Negro  is  chiefly  a  matter  of  education.  To 
educate  the  Negro  and  at  the  same  time  promote  good  feeling  between  the 
races  is  a  delicate  task.  Agencies  controlled  by  ideals  in  accord  with  the 
spirit  of  the  South  should  be  provided  for  training  Negro  ministers,  teachers, 
and  supervisors  of  schools.  The  courses  of  study  in  the  Negro  elementary 
schools  should  be  directly  related  to  the  environment  of  the  Negro  child  and, 
in  the  main,  should  be  vocational  in  character. 


10  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

"4.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  any  attempt  to  elevate  the  Negro 
must  be  met  with  a  corresponding  attempt  to  improve  the  condition  of  the 
poorer  white  classes  of  the  South.  Otherwise  racial  antagonism  will  be 
increased  rather  than  diminished." 

Professor  Scroggs,  of  Louisiana  State  University,  said: 
"The  four  great  needs  in  dealing  with  our  Southern  race  problems  are 
education,  cooperation,  publicity,  and  patience.  As  to  education,  I  believe  it 
is  highly  desirable  that  a  course  of  instruction  in  the  race  question  should  be 
given  in  every  institution  for  higher  education  in  the  South.  In  such  a  course 
it  should  be  the  object  to  place  before  the  students  the  best  thought  of  repre 
sentative  American  citizens  on  this  subject,  and  to  assist  them  in  adopting  a 
rational  viewpoint  on  all  matters  concerning  interracial  relations.  This  would 
undoubtedly  have  a  good  effect,  but  even  then  much  more  will  remain  to  be 
done.  The  real  problem,  I  believe,  is  not  so  much  to  reach  the  university  stu 
dent  as  it  is  to  reach  the  man  who  lives  on  Jones' -Creek-at-the-Head-of-the- 
Hollow.  He  is  not  influenced  by  the  printed  page,  but  by  the  spoken  word, 
and  the  only  spoken  word  he  ever  hears  on  this  subject  is  from  one  of  his 
own  group  or  from  the  lips  of  the  demagogue.  There  is  a  possible  antidote 
for  the  demagogue  at  this  point  in  the  rural  clergyman.  In  the  rural  regions 
of  the  South  the  power  of  the  pastor  is  still  great,  but  he  is  prone  to  emphasize 
the  other-worldiness  of  Christianity ;  his  theology  needs  to  be  socialized.  The 
white  churches  are  doing  some  work  for  the  improvement  of  racial  relations 
in  the  cities,  but  as  four-fifths  of  our  colored  people  live  in  the  country,  the 
Negro  really  presents  a  problem  for  the  rural  church.  Ministers,  educators, 
and  all  other  influential  citizens  need  to  be  brought  into  cooperation  so  as  to 
get  the  best  thought  of  the  country  on  the  Negro  problem  before  the  masses 
of  the  people.  It  is  time  that  sane  Southern  sentiments  should  receive  as  much 
attention  as  the  blasphemies  of  the  demagogue.  We  ought,  then,  to  formulate 
a  program  of  cooperation  and  publicity. 

"And  we  shall  have  to  practice  patience.  Whatever  progress  is  achieved 
will  come  through  a  process  of  evolution.  It  is  just  as  foolhardy  to  attempt 
to  force  the  mental  development  of  a  group  as  it  is  to  attempt  to  hasten  the 
mental  development  of  a  child.  No  better  example  of  the  folly  of  attempting 
to  force  the  process  of  social  evolution  can  be  given  than  that  shown  in  the 
history  of  Reconstruction.  But  we  can  aid  in  the  process  of  evolution  by 
helping  to  increase  the  Negro's  wants.  As  soon  as  his  wants  are  satisfied  he 
stops  work.  If  his  standard  of  living  were  higher — and  this  means  simply 
more  wants  to  be  satisfied — he  would  be  a  much  greater  social  asset  than  he  is 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  11 

to-day.  The  Negro's  legitimate  wants  can  not  be  increased  in  a  day;  they 
must  develop  by  a  proper  kind  of  training  conducted,  perhaps,  through 
several  generations.  This  further  emphasizes  the  need  of  patience." 

Professor  Farr,  of  the  University  of  Florida,  said: 

"Fundamental  to  my  plan  is  the  conception  that  the  work  we  are  under 
taking  is  the  work  of  the  eleven  Southern  State  universities,  not  of  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Commission  as  individuals  nor  even  as  representatives  of  their 
various  institutions.  It  is  too  large  a  field  for  investigation  by  eleven  men 
who  are  all  very  busy,  and  if  it  is  to  be  done  at  all  it  can  be  done  only  by 
enlisting  the  resources  of  the  schools  in  it. 

"The  first  step  should  be  to  break  the  subject  up  into  its  essential  lines  of 
inquiry  and  to  appoint  a  committee  from  our  body  to  head  and  direct  the 
investigation  along  each  of  these  lines. 

"Second,  to  have  each  institution  organize  a  class  in  sociology  to  study 
the  race  problem,  largely  by  the  laboratory  method,  using  the  town  and 
county  in  which  the  university  is  located  as  the  field  for  investigation.  The 
class  should  be  as  large  as  possible  and  contain  representatives  from  as  many 
of  the  towns  and  counties  of  the  State  as  can  be  secured. 

"The  committees  of  our  Commission  should  formulate  lines  of  inquiry 
and  methods  of  investigation,  transmit  them  to  the  instructors  of  these  vari 
ous  classes,  and  keep  in  active  communication  with  these  instructors  and  the 
work  of  their  classes.  In  this  way  we  shall  have,  at  the  end  of  the  school 
year,  a  body  of  young  men  interested  in  the  subject,  trained  in  methods  of 
investigation,  working  under  our  committees  and  representing  a  large  part 
of  the  field  under  investigation. 

"Third,  these  students  should,  during  the  coming  summer,  devote  a  part  of 
their  time  to  investigating  conditions  in  their  home  counties  and  accumulating 
data  after  the  methods  in  which  they  were  trained  during  the  school  year. 

"The  success  of  such  a  plan  will  depend  upon  several  considerations : 
the  active  sympathy  and  cooperation  of  all  members  of  the  faculty  of  the 
university;  an  enthusiastic  presentation  of  the  subject  to  the  student  body  so 
as  to  get  a  large,  representative,  and  able  body  of  students  to  join  the  class; 
the  ability  and  zeal  of  the  instructor  in  charge  of  the  class ;  and  the  energy 
and  wisdom  of  our  committees  in  pushing  forward  the  work. 

"This  plan  has  primarily  in  view  a  feasible  method  of  conducting  investi 
gations  to  procure  data.  It  has  further  advantages  of  opening  up  a  channel 
through  which  our  future  work  of  formulating  results  and  recommending 
action  may  be  broadly  transmitted  to  the  public  of  our  various  States." 


12  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

Professor  Morse,  of  the  University  of  South  Carolina,  suggested  that  the 
Commission  should  become  an  agency  for  the  dissemination  of  authoritative 
information  covering  the  race  problem.  Also,  that  the  Commission  recom 
mend  that  the  Southern  colleges  and  universities  send  experts  and  lecturers  to 
Negro  agricultural  and  educational  meetings,  and  that  courses  in  the  study  of 
the  race  problem  be  introduced  in  Southern  colleges  and  universities  where 
they  are  not  already  offered. 

Professor  Bain  told  of  the  work  being  done  at  the  University  of  North 
Carolina,  and  Professor  Hunley  spoke  about  the  investigations  under  way  at 
the  University  of  Virginia. 

The  following  working  committees  were  appointed  by  the  chairman : 

On  Religious  Questions — Professors  Doster,  Kennon, 1  and  Morse. 

On  Educational  Questions — Professors  Sutton,  Farr,  and  Doster. 

On  Hygienic  Questions — Professors  Morse,  Kennon,  and  Bain. 

On  Economic  Questions — Professors  DeLoach,  Hoskins,  and  Brough. 

On  Civic  Questions — Professors  Scroggs,  Sutton,  and  Hunley. 

On  Race  Adjustment — Professors  Farr,  Bain,  and  Hunley. 

Professors  Brough,  Farr,  and  Hunley  were  constituted  the  Executive 
Committee. 

Dr.  Spingarn  spoke  of  his  pleasure  in  being  permitted  to  be  present,  and 
paid  high  tribute  to  the  value  of  the  Commission's  work. 

Mrs.  Hammond  described  her  experiences  in  working  among  Southern 
Negroes,  and  Mr.  Woofter  spoke  of  his  studies  as  Phelps-Stokes  Fellow  at 
the  University  of  Georgia. 

The  Commission  adjourned  at  2  p.  M.,  December  20,  to  meet  again  at 
Richmond,  Va.,  December  18,  1913. 

THIRD  MEETING,  RICHMOND,  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE,  AND  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  DECEMBER  18,  19,  AND  20,  1913 

The  third  meeting  of  the  University  Commission  on  Southern  Race 
Questions  was  held  on  December  18,  19,  and  20,  1913.  Two  sessions  were 
held  at  the  Richmond  Hotel,  Richmond,  Va.,  on  December  18,  one  session  at 
Hampton  Institute,  Hampton,  Va.,  on  December  19,  and  one  session  at  the 
University  of  Virginia  on  December  20. 

The  first  session  was  called  to  order  by  Chairman  Brough  at  2  p.  M., 
December  18,  at  the  Richmond  Hotel.  Those  present  were: 


1  Prof.   Hedleston,  of  the  University  of  Mississippi,  having  resigned,   Professor  W. 
L.  Kennon  was  appointed  in  his  place. 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  13 

Professors  James  J.  Doster,  Alabama;  C.  H.  Brough,  Arkansas;  James 
M.  Farr,  Florida;  R.  J.  H.  DeLoach,  Georgia;  W.  O.  Scroggs,  Louisiana; 
William  L.  Kennon,  Mississippi;  Charles  W.  Bain,  North  Carolina;  Josiah 
Morse,  South  Carolina ;  W.  S.  Sutton,  Texas ;  James  D.  Hoskins,  Tennessee  ; 
W.  M.  Hunley,  Virginia;  and  Drs.  S.  C.  Mitchell  and  James  H.  Dillard,  of 
the  Advisory  Committee. 

The  secretary  read  a  letter  from  Dr.  J.  E.  Spingarn  requesting  the  privi 
lege  of  attending  the  sessions.  After  discussion,  the  secretary  was  authorized 
to  send  him  a  telegram  advising  him  that  he  would  be  permitted  to  sit  with 
the  Commission  at  all  but  executive  sessions. 

Dr.  Dillard  spoke  of  the  opportunity  before  the  Commission  of  perform 
ing  a  great  service  for  the  South  in  studying  the  race  question  carefully,  acting 
deliberately,  and  speaking,  when  occasion  arose,  authoritatively.  He  said 
there  was  a  feeling  in  the  South  of  the  need  of  means  to  speak  out  on  the 
Negro  question  as  contrasted  with  the  means  identified  with  the  demagogue. 
Heretofore,  he  said,  the  best  thought  of  Southern  white  people  on  the  Negro 
question  had  not  been  expressed. 

An  invitation  was  extended  to  President  R.  E.  Blackwell,  of  Randolph- 
Macon  College,  and  Jackson  Davis  to  attend  the  session.  Dr.  Mitchell, 
of  the  Advisory  Committee,  spoke  briefly  of  the  changed  conditions  in  the 
South,  especially  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  attitude  of  Southern  white 
people  toward  a  serious  study  of  race  conditions.  He  said  the  Commission 
could  help  matters  by  fostering  a  right  approach  to  the  consideration  of  the 
Negro's  status  in  Southern  life,  and  urged  moderation  and  patience  in  ar 
riving  at  conclusions.  He  added  that  already  the  influence  of  the  Commission 
was  felt  in  many  ways  in  the  Southern  States.  President  Blackwell  and  Mr. 
Davis  spoke  briefly  of  education  for  Negroes,  especially  of  phases  of  the 
situation  in  Virginia. 

Dr.  Dillard  suggested  that  the  members  of  the  Commission  speak  as 
representatives  of  their  respective  States  as  to  Negro  education :  Is  the  senti 
ment  for  educating  the  Negro  growing  in  the  South  ?  The  answer  from  every 
member  was,  in  the  main,  in  the  affirmative.  Special  points  made  by  several 
members  were: 

Dr.  Sutton :  Need  of  better  training  for  Negroes  along  industrial  lines. 
Fit  them  for  the  actual  life  they  must  lead.  There  is  great  need  of  better 
ways  of  spending  money  for  Negro  education  than  at  present  used.  Teach 
the  Negro  the  dignity  of  manual  labor,  find  what  is  most  necessary  for  his 


14  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

happiness  as  a  human  being  in  the  world  in  which  he  must  live,  what  will  best 
conduce  to  his  becoming  a  good  citizen,  and  emphasize  that.  Three  needs  in 
education  especially  felt: 

1.  To  know  better  what  to  teach  the  Negro. 

2.  To  know  better  how  to  teach  the  Negro. 

3.  To  have  better  supervision  of  Negro  schools. 

Professor  Farr :  Comparative  tables  would  be  of  great  service  in  show 
ing  that  the  amount  of  money  spent  on  Negro  education  is  comparatively  very 
small. 

Professor  Doster:  Greatest  obstacle  to  education  of  the  Negro  in 
Alabama  is  educational  condition  of  the  poor  white.  Can  not  expect  more  aid 
to  Negro  education  unless  corresponding  amount  be  given  to  White.  But 
general  conditions  favoring  education  of  Negroes  are  encouraging. 

Dr.  Bain:  Sentiment  in  North  Carolina  is  in  favor  of  educating  the 
Negro.  The  great  need  is  of  competent  Negro  teachers.  With  competent 
Negro  teachers  the  situation  would  be  greatly  improved. 

Professor  DeLoach:  Sentiment  in  Georgia  good  for  Negro  education, 
but  some  prejudice  among  Whites  against  educated  Negro  farm  hands.  Real 
need  is  of  educating  white  people  to  the  point  where  they  will  appreciate  the 
increased  efficiency  of  the  Negro  who  has  had  the  benefit  of  industrial 
education. 

Dr.  Morse:  Some  prejudice  against  Negro  education  in  South  Carolina. 
Poor  teachers  and  politics  have  had  much  to  do  with  conditions  there. 

Dr.  Kennon:  No  distinct  sentiment  against  Negro  education  in 
Mississippi.  Great  demand  for  trained  Negro  workmen  in  all  lines,  so 
emphasis  should  be  put  on  industrial  education. 

After  a  general  discussion  the  Commission  adjourned,  to  meet  again  at 
8  o'clock. 

EVENING  SESSION 

Mrs.  B.  B.  Munford  was  invited  to  attend  the  evening  session.  She 
spoke  about  the  segregation  plan  for  Richmond,  and  of  the  interest  of  the 
people  of  Richmond  in  the  aims  of  the  Commission. 

Rion  McKissick,  of  the  Times  Dispatch,  was  invited  to  attend  the 
evening  session.  He  spoke  briefly  of  the  satisfaction  felt  by  thinking 
Southern  people  that  a  body  of  Southern  university  men  had  set  about  a 
serious  study  of  Southern  race  conditions,  and  of  the  good  effect  that  would 
be  sure  to  follow. 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  15 

Dr.  Brough  read  a  paper  dealing  with  phases  of  the  economic  life  of  the 
Negro. 

The  following  tentative  reports  of  committees  were  submitted  in  written 
form  (others  were  submitted  orally  by  the  chairmen) : 

COMMITTEE  ON  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS 

We  are  expecting  only  to  give  some  idea  of  the  present  conditions  of  the 
Negro,  and  of  his  economic  habits,  and  to  outline  a  system  of  investigation 
for  the  future  study  of  the  subject.  The  figures  we  find  on  the  subject  do 
not  satisfy  the, conditions  of  a  complete  investigation,  and  it  will  be  our  pur 
pose  to  get  statistical  data  on  certain  heretofore  neglected  phases  of  the 
question,  so  that  we  can  make  the  work  constructive  and  consecutive. 

This  being  our  purpose  in  a  general  way,  we  have  thought  best  to  classify 
the  study  as  follows: 

The  City-Country  Population  of  the  Negro. 

Negro  Landownership. 

Property  Other  than  Land  Owned  by  Negroes. 

Relation  of  Negro  Holdings  to  Price  of  Land. 

The  Cropping  System. 

Standing  Rent  System. 

The  Probable  Basis  of  Ascendency. 

The  Application  of  Education  to  the  Negro  Farmer  and  Mechanic. 

The  Present-Day  Organizations  for  the  Economic  Uplift  of  the  Negro 
Race. 

COMMITTEE  ON  Civic  QUESTIONS 

Plan  of  study : 
I.     The  Negro  and  the  Federal  Government. 

1.  Resume  of  Federal  Civil  Rights  Legislation. 

2.  The  Federal  Government  and  Negro  Suffrage. 

3.  The  Negro's  Rights  as  an  Interstate  Passenger. 

4.  The  Negro's  Position  as  a  Government  Employe. 
II.     The  Negro  and  the  State  Governments. 

1.  State  Legislation  on  the  Civil  Rights  of  the  Negro. 

2.  Separation  of  Races  in: 

(a)  Hotels  and  Restaurants. 

(b)  Places  of  Amusement. 

(c)  Churches,  Cemeteries,  and  Eleemosynary  Institutions. 

(d)  National  Guard. 

(e)  Public  Schools. 


16  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

3.  The  Negro  as  an  Intra- State  Passenger. 

4.  The  Political  Status  of  the  Negro. 

(a)  Resume  of  the  History  of  Negro  Suffrage. 

(b)  Present  Status  of  Suffrage  Legislation. 

(c)  Actual  Operation  of  Suffrage  Laws. 

5.  The  Negro  Before  the  State  Courts. 

(a)  As  Defendant  or  Plaintiff. 

(b)  As  Witness. 

(c)  As  Lawyer. 

(d)  As  Juror. 

6.  The  Negro  and  the  Division  of  the  School  Fund. 

7.  The  Negro  and  Mob  Violence. 

III.     The  Negro  and  the  Municipal  Governments. 

1.  Segregation  of  Races  by  City  Ordinances. 

2.  Separation  in  Street  Cars. 

3.  The  Negro's   Share   in   Public   Improvements,   e.    g.,   Libraries, 

Parks,  Driveways,  Playgrounds. 

4.  Housing  the  Negro  in  Southern  Cities. 

5.  Policing,  Cleaning,  and  Lighting  of  Streets  in  Negro  Quarters. 

Following  a  discussion  of  reports  submitted  in  writing  and  orally,  the 
Commission  adjourned,  to  meet  again  at  Hampton  the  following  day. 

VISIT  TO  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE  AND  SESSION  THERE 

The  Commission  left  Richmond  on  the  morning  of  December  19  and 
were  met  at  Hampton  by  a  delegation  from  Hampton  Institute.  A  trip  was 
made  over  the  Institute  grounds,  and  after  luncheon  a  session  was  held  in  the 
office  of  Dr.  Hollis  B.  Frissell,  principal  of  the  Institute.  Addresses  were 
made  by  Dr.  Frissell,  members  of  his  staff,  Major  R.  R.  Moton,  and  by  several 
members  of  the  Commission. 

Professor  Sutton  later  presented  the  following: 

"Reactions  of  members  of  the  University  Commission  on  Race  Questions 
in  the  South  to  what  was  seen  and  heard  at  Hampton  Institute  Friday, 
December  19,  1913: 

"1.  The  principal,  the  members  of  the  faculty,  and  the  students  appear 
to  be  greatly  interested  in  their  work.  Their  behavior  towards  one  another 
appears  natural.  The  principal  and  many  members  of  the  faculty,  though 
white  persons  engaged  in  teaching  Negroes,  do  not  wear  an  apologetic  air; 
they  act  as  if  they  were  men  engaged  in  a  perfectly  normal  and  useful  work. 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  17 

"2.  What  impressed  me  most  at  Hampton  was  the  conquest  of  the  two 
greatest  enemies  of  the  Negro — or,  for  that  matter,  of  any  people — idleness 
and  filth. 

"3.  The  reaction  of  Industrial  Education  on  an  individual  Negro  soul; 
Major  Moton  looking  beyond  industrialism  to  justice. 

"4.     Efficiency  and  advantages  of  industrial  education. 

"5.     Industriousness,  system,  cleanliness,  earnestness. 

"6.     The  earnest  desire  for  better  relations  between  the  races." 

On  December  20,  at  11  o'clock  A.  M.,  the  Commission  reconvened  at 
Madison  Hall,  University  of  Virginia.  The  following  letter  was  sent  by 
President  Edwin  A.  Alderman,  who  was  unable  to  be  present: 

"The  so-called  race  question,  which  means  the  right  adjustment  of  rela 
tions  between  the  white  man  and  the  colored  man  in  American  life,  still 
remains  perhaps  our  most  complex  and  momentous  public  question.  On  the 
whole,  no  man  can  deny  that  this  complex  problem  has  been  handled  for  the 
past  thirty  years  with  a  great  deal  of  instinctive  wisdom  by  the  people  of  the 
South,  and  the  result  of  their  constructive  thought  has  been  acquiesced  in  by 
the  people  of  the  North  with  remarkable  and  commendable  faith  and  confi 
dence.  The  problem,  however,  is  not  settled,  and  probably  never  will  be,  but 
may  be  counted  upon  to  present  difficult  phases  to  every  generation.  Indeed, 
a  certain  paralysis  of  feeling  about  the  whole  matter,  due  to  exhaustion,  I  am 
inclined  to  think,  seems  to  have  overtaken  both  sections,  and  those  who  are 
seeking  to  think  quietly  about  the  matter  should  be  grateful  for  the  fact  that 
the  Negro  has  somehow  gotten  off  the  Southerner's  nerves  and  out  of  the 
Northerner's  imagination. 

"Both  sections  have  turned  with  unity  of  effort  to  bring  about  a  change 
in  the  spirit  and  machinery  of  our  democracy,  whereby  they  believe  the  inter 
est  of  all  the  people  can  best  be  advanced.  It  is  wise  that,  in  this  breathing 
spell,  patient,  wise,  scientific,  just  men  should  labor  at  the  problem  and  seek 
to  place  it  where  it  belongs  among  the  great  economic  and  sociological  ques 
tions  of  the  time." 

The  secretary  was  authorized  to  send  a  telegram  to  President  Alderman 
thanking  him  for  his  letter  and  extending  to  him  the  Commission's  best  wishes 
for  speedy  restoration  to  health. 

President  Alderman  was  elected  to  membership  on  the  Advisory  Com 
mittee. 


18  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

The  chairman  called  upon  each  member  for  a  short  talk  about  his  own 
particular  study  of  Southern  race  questions.  Each  one  responded.  After  a 
general  discussion  the  Commission  adjourned,  to  meet  again  in  Washington 
on  December  15,  1914. 

FOURTH  MEETING,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  DECEMBER  14  AND  15,  1914 

The  fourth  meeting  of  the  Commission  was  held  in  Washington,  D.  C., 
December  14  and  15,  1914.  An  informal  session  was  held  at  the  Raleigh 
Hotel  on  the  evening  of  December  14.  Those  present  were: 

Professors  C.  H.  Brough,  W.  S.  Sutton,  Josiah  Morse,  W.  L.  Kennon, 
James  J.  Doster,  James  M.  Farr,  James  D.  Hoskins,  W.  O.  Scroggs,  Charles 
W.  Bain,  R.  J.  H.  DeLoach,  W.  M.  Hunley,  and  Drs.  Mitchell  and  Dillard. 

On  the  morning  of  December  15  the  members  of  the  Commission  were 
received  at  the  White  House  by  President  Wilson.  Dr.  Brough,  as  chairman, 
was  spokesman  for  the  Commission.  He  explained  its  purpose  and  described 
its  personnel.  In  response,  President  Wilson  said : 

"I  am  very  glad  to  express  my  sincere  interest  in  this  work  and  sympathy 
with  it.  I  think  that  men  like  yourselves  can  be  trusted  to  see  this  great  ques 
tion  at  every  angle.  There  isn't  any  question,  it  seems  to  me,  into  which  more 
candor  needs  to  be  put,  or  more  thorough  human  good  feeling,  than  this.  I 
know  myself,  as  a  Southern  man,  how  sincerely  the  heart  of  the  South  desires 
the  good  of  the  Negro  and  the  advancement  of  his  race  on  all  sound  and 
sensible  lines,  and  everything  that  can  be  done  in  that  direction  is  of  the  high 
est  value.  It  is  a  matter  of  common  understanding. 

"There  is  a  charming  story  told  about  Charles  Lamb.  The  conversation 
in  his  little  circle  turned  upon  some  men  who  were  not  present,  and  Lamb, 
who,  you  know,  stuttered,  said,  'I  hate  that  fellow.'  His  friend  said,  'Charles, 
I  didn't  know  you  knew  him.'  Lamb  said,  'I  don't;  I  can't  hate  a  fellow  I 
know.' 

"I  think  that  is  a  very  profound  human  fact.  You  can  not  hate  a  man 
you  know.  And  our  object  is  to  know  the  needs  of  the  Negro  and  sympa 
thetically  help  him  in  every  way  that  is  possible  for  his  good  and  for  our  good. 
I  can  only  bid  you  Godspeed  in  what  is  a  very  necessary  and  great  under 
taking." 

Leaving  the  White  House,  the  Commission  proceeded  to  the  administra 
tion  building  of  George  Washington  University,  where  the  members  were 
greeted  by  Admiral  Charles  H.  Stockton,  president  of  the  university.  The 
first  formal  session  was  held  at  11  o'clock,  Dr.  Brough  presiding.  Admiral 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  19 

Stockton  made  a  short  address  of  welcome  and  spoke  of  his  belief  that  the 
good  of  both  races  could  only  be  attained  ultimately  by  means  of  such  investi 
gation  as  the  Commission  was  undertaking. 

Dr.  Brough  called  upon  President  Mitchell,  who  said  that  the  European 
war  had  emphasized  the  fact  that  there  must  be  something  more  than  racial 
and  national  sentiment  in  solving  the  questions  of  humanity.  "Inclusion,  and 
not  exclusion,  must  be  the  policy  pursued  in  studying  race  questions,"  he  said. 
He  congratulated  the  Commission  on  its  method  of  approach,  and  said  that 
nowhere  in  the  South  did  gloom  exist  as  to  the  ultimate  solution  of  the  prob 
lem  upon  a  broad  and  just  basis. 

Dr.  Dillard  was  the  next  speaker.  He  said  he  was  satisfied  that  there  was 
a  growing  sentiment  among  white  leaders  of  the  South  in  favor  of  the  educa 
tion  of  the  Negro  race;  that  he  had  come  to  realize  that  there  was  already  a 
large  number  of  able  leaders  in  the  colored  race  itself,  and  that  he  believed 
this  fact  was  not  recognized  generally  either  in  the  North  or  the  South.  The 
work  of  the  Commission,  and  among  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.'s  of  the  South,  he  be 
lieved  to  be  the  most  beneficent  work  on  the  race  question. 

"We  do  not  know,"  he  said,  "how  many  able  Negroes,  capable  and  will 
ing  to  lead  their  race  to  better  things,  there  are  in  the  South  to-day."  He 
added  that  happily  there  was  a  change  in  the  type  of  white  leadership  in  the 
South  in  race  matters,  and  that  there  was  a  pronounced  disposition  for 
cooperation  between  white  and  black  in  a  great  many  ways.  He  concluded  by 
saying  that  he  thought  one  of  the  biggest  benefits  that  would  come  from  such 
work  as  the  Commission  was  trying  to  do  would  be  the  stimulation  of  the 
thought  of  the  younger  generation  of  white  men  of  the  South,  and  urged  that 
the  whole  question  of  the  relation  of  the  races  be  put  on  a  basis  of  common 
humanity  to  replace  the  relation  of  master  and  slave. 

The  work  of  the  student  holders  of  the  Phelps-Stokes  Fellowships  estab 
lished  at  the  University  of  Georgia  and  the  University  of  Virginia  was  next 
discussed.  The  success  already  attained  by  this  means  in  interesting  Southern 
students  in  race  questions  in  the  right  way  was  so  apparent  that  a  committee 
was  appointed  to  draw  a  resolution  to  be  sent  to  Mr.  Anson  Phelps  Stokes  for 
the  consideration  of  the  Phelps-Stokes  Trustees,  urging  that  additional  Fel 
lowships  be  established  at  other  Southern  universities.  Professors  DeLoach, 
Hoskins,  and  Hunley  were  appointed  to  compose  the  resolution.  Their  re 
port  was  adopted,  as  follows : 

"In  consideration  of  the  fact  that  the  Phelps-Stokes  Fellowships  at  the 
University  of  Virginia  and  the  University  of  Georgia  have  accomplished  most 


20  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

excellent  results,  besides  arousing  the  interest  of  hundreds  of  students  at  those 
institutions  in  a  serious  and  scientific  study  of  Southern  Race  Questions, 

"And  in  view  of  the  growing  importance  of  having  first-hand  informa 
tion  on  the  present  status  of  race  relationship  in  the  South, 

"And  in  view  of  the  great  difficulty  of  developing  methods  of  securing 
such  information  on  account  of  the  many  obstacles  that  obviously  confront 
such  investigation, 

"Therefore  be  it  Resolved,  That  we  are  in  sympathy  with  the  method 
typified  by  these  Fellowships,  and 

"Resolved,  That  we  respectfully  request  the  establishment  of  additional 
Fellowships  at  other  Southern  State  universities. 

"UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  ON  SOUTHERN  RACE  QUESTIONS." 

The  members  of  the  Commission  were  the  guests  of  Admiral  C.  H. 
Stockton  and  Dr.  Charles  Monroe,  of  George  Washington  University,  at 
luncheon  at  the  Cosmos  Club. 

The  afternoon  session  was  called  to  order  at  3  o'clock.  Dr.  Thomas 
Jesse  Jones,  of  the  Phelps-Stokes  Fund,  was  invited  to  tell  of  his  work  in  the 
field  of  Negro  education  in  the  Southern  States.  He  gave  an  interesting  dis 
cussion  of  various  phases  of  his  studies.  Before  doing  so  he  took  occasion  to 
speak  of  his  interest  in  the  work  of  the  Commission.  He  said  he  was  looking 
forward  with  hope  to  what  it  may  do,  particularly  in  the  way  of  getting 
young  Southern  white  men  to  study  and  take  a  deep  interest  in  race  relation 
ships  in  a  sane  and  helpful  way.  He  emphasized  the  importance  of  getting 
Southern  men  to  tackle  the  problem,  and  said  the  North  was  beginning  to 
have  confidence  in  the  Southern  people  to  handle  the  difficult  matter  them 
selves.  He  saw  a  twofold  responsibility  and  opportunity  for  the  Commission : 
First,  to  get  scientifically  accurate  information,  and,  second,  to  create  right 
convictions  in  the  minds  of  Southern  people. 

Dr.  Sutton  followed  Dr.  Jones.  He  said  the  North  and  South  must 
work  the  race  question  out  together,  or  it  will  never  be  worked  out  at  all. 
He  urged  that  in  the  matter  of  education,  especially,  the  work  be  undertaken 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  whole  citizenship  of  the  State.  He  argued  for 
uniform  standards  and  more  attention  to  the  right  sort  of  training  for  the 
Negro,  with  a  view  to  making  him  a  more  useful  member  of  society. 

Dr.  Doster  spoke  of  the  difficulty  of  getting  better  schools  for  Negroes 
in  the  South  without  at  the  same  time  doing  as  much  or  more  for  the  poor 
whites.  More  and  better  progress  was  being  made  in  Alabama  at  this  time, 
he  said,  than  at  any  other  time  in  the  field  of  education  for  both  races.  He 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  21 

spoke  of  the  transformation  that  has  taken  place  in  school  buildings  in 
Alabama,  and  in  the  condition  of  school  grounds.  Negroes  themselves,  he 
said,  are  helping  wonderfully  in  all  these  things  for  their  own  schools.  In 
matters  having  to  do  with  sanitation,  he  said,  the  improvement  in  Negro 
schools  was  especially  noticeable. 

Dr.  Farr  said  he  was  convinced  that  the  white  people  of  the  South  were 
not  opposed  to  education  for  the  Negro,  if  they  could  be  convinced  that  educa 
tion  would  do  the  Negro  any  good.  Many  white  people,  he  said,  are  not  so 
convinced  at  this  time,  and  he  thought  one  of  the  best  things  the  Commission 
could  do  would  be  to  show  those  who  scoff  at  the  value  of  education  for  the 
Negro  wherein  they  are  wrong,  and  to  set  them  right.  When  the  Southern 
white  people  are  convinced  that  education  will  help  the  Negro  to  be  a  better 
man  and  to  render  a  greater  service  to  the  South,  then,  he  said,  he  was  sure 
the  white  people  would  be  willing  to  divide  with  the  Negro  on  an  equitable 
basis. 

After  hearing  from  the  other  members  of  the  Commission  as  to  con 
ditions  in  their  respective  States,  Dr.  Brough  read  a  paper  on  "Recent  Negro 
Progress." 

The  concluding  session  of  the  meeting  was  held  at  the  Raleigh  Hotel, 
beginning  at  8  o'clock  in  the  evening.  Dr.  Morse  proposed  a  resolution  of 
thanks  to  Admiral  Stockton  and  Dr.  Monroe  for  their  hospitality.  Such  a 
resolution  was  adopted  and  forwarded  by  the  secretary. 

Drs.  Morse  and  Kennon,  speaking  on  the  work  of  the  Commission, 
believed  that  perhaps  the  most  effective  work  the  Commission  could  do  would 
be  to  stimulate  the  thought  of  students  in  Southern  universities  along  sane 
and  dispassionate  lines  in  race  matters.  To  this  end,  they  thought  the  best 
way  to  proceed  would  be  for  each  of  the  members  to  strive  to  arouse  such 
interest  among  the  students  of  his  own  institution.  Therefore,  they  sug 
gested  that  such  available  funds  as  the  Commission  might  have  should  be 
divided  among  the  several  members  and  used  by  them  as  prizes  for  creditable 
work  in  race  investigation  by  their  own  students.  Dr.  Hoskins,  Dr.  Bain, 
and  others  shared  this  view,  emphasizing  their  belief  that  the  most  important 
service  any  organization  could  perform  at  this  time  was  to  bring  young  men 
of  the  South  to  a  better  understanding  of  the  Negro,  and  to  encourage  them 
to  study  questions  affecting  the  Negro  in  the  proper  way.  Dr.  Hoskins  stated 
that  at  the  University  of  Tennessee  this  sort  of  work  had  been  going  on  for 
some  time,  and  students  who  a  short  time  ago  were  indifferent,  if  not  antago 
nistic,  to  such  study,  were  now  alive  to  the  need  of  a  right  understanding  of 
race  conditions,  and  were  reading  books  and  making  investigations  in  a  way 


22  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

that  would  have  been  thought  impossible  a  few  years  ago.  The  Commission 
could  not  do  better  than  stimulate  this  sort  of  thing  among  students  of  the 
South,  he  said,  and  he  proposed  that  until  the  next  meeting  each  member 
devote  as  much  time  as  possible  to  efforts  to  stir  up  his  own  students.  He 
referred  to  results  already  apparent,  and,  as  evidence  of  the  new  spirit  among 
Southern  students,  he  read  a  report  entitled,  "The  Economic  Condition  of  the 
Negroes  of  Knoxville."  prepared  by  Mr.  R.  G.  San  ford,  a  student  at  the 
University  of  Tennessee.  [Appendix  E.] 

Dr.  Scroggs  said  that  last  year,  students  at  Louisiana  State  University 
had,  for  the  first  time,  done  actual  work  among  the  Negroes  of  Baton  Rouge 
in  an  effort  to  understand  conditions.  He  said  they  had  organized  a  club  for 
the  study  and  discussion  of  race  questions,  and  many  of  the  best  students 
showed  great  interest  in  the  work. 

Dr.  Kennon  reported  that  at  Mississippi  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  had  undertaken 
similar  study  and  had  enlisted  the  active  cooperation  of  many  of  the  leading 
students. 

Dr. '  Farr  stated  that  at  Florida  a  three-hour  course  in  Southern  race 
questions  had  been  started  with  great  promise,  and  that  university  credit  was 
being  given  for  creditable  work  done.  He  mentioned  fourteen  students  who 
were  actively  engaged  in  this  field,  where  a  short  time  ago  there  were  no  stu 
dents  at  all  at  work. 

Similar  reports  were  made  concerning  student  activity  at  Virginia, 
Georgia,  South  Carolina,  Texas,  and  North  Carolina. 

It  was  agreed  that  until  the  next  meeting  the  Commission  apply  itself 
chiefly  to  efforts  to  bring  the  students  of  the  South  to  a  realization  of  the 
need  of  studying  race  questions  scientifically  and  sympathetically. 

The  next  subject  discussed  was  that  of  publication.  Dr.  Morse  spoke  of 
the  danger  of  haste,  and  urged  that  the  Commission  think  well  and  long 
before  speaking  officially.  Care  should  be  exercised,  he  said,  in  giving  to  the 
public  statements  that  might  be  taken  as  coming  from  the  Commission  as  a 
body.  He  suggested  the  appointment  of  an  editorial  board,  which  should 
serve  as  an  agency  to  assemble  such  facts  as  the  Commission  should  decide 
to  publish,  and  give  them  out.  The  Commission  adopted  this  suggestion  and 
appointed  the  secretary  to  serve  temporarily  in  this  capacity. 

Dr.  Brough  next  called  for  reports  from  the  various  committees.  Drs. 
Morse,  Bain,  and  Kennon  spoke  of  improved  hygienic  conditions  among  the 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  23 

Negroes  of  their  respective  localities,  Dr.  Bain  referring  especially  to  a  "clean 
up  week"  undertaken  with  great  success  by  the  Negroes  of  Chapel  Hill,  N.  C. 

Dr.  Doster,  in  his  report  on  religious  conditions  among  the  Negroes  of 
Alabama,  laid  stress  on  the  lack  of  cooperation  between  white  and  Negro 
ministers. 

Drs.  Sutton,  Doster,  and  Farr  submitted  a  report  for  the  Committee  on 
Education. 

Dr.  DeLoach,  in  his  report  for  the  Committee  on  Economic  Phases  of 
the  Negro  Question,  gave  a  stimulating  review  of  the  improvement  in  the 
earning  capacity  of  Negroes  in  Georgia,  especially  Negro  farmers,  in  the  last 
three  years.  He  said  this  earning  capacity  had  increased  from  10  to  33  per 
cent  in  that  period.  He  spoke  of  canning  clubs  among  colored  boys  and 
girls,  and  of  the  good  results  attained  in  this  and  other  ways.  Young  Negro 
farmers  were  anxious  to  learn  improved  methods,  he  said,  and  readily  fol 
lowed  the  advice  of  their  white  neighbors  and  friends.  He  discussed  the 
tenant  system,  and  then  told  of  his  plans  for  the  coming  year,  which  would 
aim  to  get  accurate  information  as  to  economic  conditions  among  the  Georgia 
Negroes. 

Dr.  Scroggs,  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Civic  Relations,  submitted  a 
report  on  that  subject.  [Appendix  C.] 

The  Commission  then  had  a  very  frank  discussion  as  to  the  general  out 
look.  Each  member  gave  his  personal  views.  Some  expressed  doubt  that, 
outside  of  the  highly  intelligent  classes  of  white  people,  there  was  among  the 
Southern  white  people  any  real  desire  to  help  the  Negro  advance  to  better 
conditions  of  living.  Others  believed  that  there  was  a  disposition  to  help  the 
Negro,  provided  it  could  be  demonstrated  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  white 
people  that  such  aid  really  did  the  Negro  good,  made  him  a  better  worker  and 
a  better  citizen.  All  agreed  that  the  most  pressing  need  at  present  was  to 
educate  the  Southern  white  people.  To  do  this,  one  of  the  most  effective 
agencies  at  hand  was  believed  to  be  the  Commission,  working  through 
Southern  students  who  could,  if  they  would,  transform  the  average  white 
man's  attitude  toward  the  Negro  in  the  near  future.  Patience,  however,  it 
was  emphasized,  was  absolutely  necessary,  as  well  as  care  and  lack  of  haste  in 
reaching  conclusions. 

A  resolution  was  adopted  extending  an  invitation  to  Mr.  Anson  Phelps 
Stokes  to  meet  with  the  Commission  at  Montgomery,  Ala.,  on  May  5. 

The  Commission  adjourned  at  12:45  A.  M.,  December  16. 


24  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

FIFTH  MEETING,  MONTGOMERY  AND  TTISKEGEE  INSTITUTE, 
MAY  5,  6,  AND  7,  1915 

The  fifth  meeting  of  the  Commission  was  called  to  order  at  3  p.  M.,  May 
5,  1915,  at  the  Exchange  Hotel,  Montgomery,  Ala.  Dr.  DeLoach  occupied 
the  chair  and  was  chosen  chairman  for  the  meeting  in  place  of  Dr.  Brough, 
who  was  absent.  The  members  present  were : 

Professors  Hoskins,  Kennon,  Morse,  Doster,  Scroggs,  DeLoach,  Hunley, 
and  Dr.  Dillard. 

Absent:   Dr.  Brough,  Dr.  Farr,  and  Dr.  Sutton. 

The  chair  welcomed  Prof.  E.  C.  Branson,  of  the  University  of  North 
Carolina,  as  a  member  of  the  Commission,  succeeding  Dr.  Charles  W.  Bain, 
who  died  last  winter. 

The  chair  also  welcomed  Dr.  J.  Carleton  Bell,  of  the  University  of  Texas, 
who  represented  that  institution  at  the  meeting  in  place  of  Dr.  Sutton,  who 
was  prevented  by  illness  from  attending. 

Dr.  Farr,  of  the  University  of  Florida,  sent  word  of  his  regret  in  being 
unavoidably  prevented  from  being  present,  as  did  Dr.  Brough. 

The  chair  appointed  a  committee,  consisting  of  Professors  Scroggs, 
chairman;  Hoskins,  and  the  secretary,  to  compose  a  minute  on  the  death  of 
Dr.  Bain.  The  following  was  presented  as  the  report  of  this  committee  and 
was  adopted : 

"The  University  Commission  on  Southern  Race  Questions,  having  heard 
with  profound  regret  of  the  death  of  one  of  its  members,  Charles  Wesley 
Bain,  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  desires,  at  its  session  in  Mont 
gomery,  Ala.,  on  May  5,  1915,  to  record  its  appreciation  of  his  services  in 
connection  with  this  organization,  and  to  express  its  sympathy  with  the 
bereaved  family  and  with  the  faculty  of  the  University  which  he  so  ably 
represented. 

"By  his  genial  disposition  and  personal  charm  Professor  Bain  endeared 
himself  to  the  members  of  this  Commission,  and  his  death  brings  to  each  of 
them  a  sense  of  keen  personal  loss. 

"It  is  hereby  ordered  that  a  copy  of  this  testimonial  be  spread  upon  the 
minutes  of  this  Commission,  and  that  a  copy  be  forwarded  to  Professor  Bain's 
family  and  to  the  faculty  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina. 

"Committee : 

W.  O.  SCROGGS,  Chairman, 
JAMES  D.  HOSKINS, 
W.  M.  HUNLEY." 


A.   *CHARLES  W.  BAIN 

University  of  North  Carolina 
B.  tCiiARLES  II.  BROUGII  c.  $R.  J.  H.  DELOACH 

University  of  Arkansas  University  of  Gcoryia 

FORMER  MEMBERS  OF  THE  COMMISSION 
*Died  March  15,  1915. 
fNow  Governor  of  the  State. 
JNow  residing  in  Chicago. 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  25 

The  secretary  sent  a  copy  of  this  minute  to  Mrs.  Bain  and  to  newspapers 
in  North  and  South  Carolina  and  Norfolk,  Va.  It  was  printed  in  these  papers 
and  was,  in  addition,  made  the  basis  of  editorial  comment  in  two  of  them.  It 
was  also  printed  in  publications  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  the  Uni 
versity  of  South  Carolina,  and  the  University  of  Virginia. 

Dr.  Dillard  was  asked  by  the  chair  to  start  discussion.  He  spoke  of  the 
importance  the  race  question  in  the  South  was  assuming,  and  said  that  it  was 
becoming  more  and  more  important  from  every  point  of  view  as  time  passed. 
He  had  once  thought  it  well,  perhaps,  to  let  it  drop  from  active  discussion  for  a 
few  years,  but  this  was  impossible  in  view  of  the  fact  that  ill-disposed  people 
will  talk,  so  the  well-disposed  must  talk  about  it.  Speaking  of  the  Commis 
sion,  he  said  it  was  a  real  force  and  had  already  justified  its  existence.  He 
thought  the  reflex  influence  of  the  Commission  on  the  thought  and  attitude  of 
young  men  in  Southern  colleges  and  universities  was  of  great  value.  If  we 
could  look  back  to  this  time  from  twenty-five  years  hence,  he  said,  we  should 
not  be  ashamed  of  the  part  the  Commission  played.  The  immediate  job  before 
us,  however,  he  said,  was  to  get  the  better  class  of  white  people  in  the  South 
interested  in  the  race  question — so  interested  that  they  would  feel  the  need  of 
speaking  out  frankly  when  occasion  required.  As  to  the  future  work  of  the 
Commission,  he  doubted  whether  it  should  attempt,  except  so  far  as  it  might 
use  college  students,  to  be  an  investigating  body.  Data  can  be  better  collected, 
and  will  be  collected,  by  other  agencies  more  adequately  prepared  for  such 
work.  The  Commission  should  study  these  facts  and  use  them.  The  Com 
mission,  furthermore,  he  said,  should  hear  from  as  many  persons  as  possible 
who  are  interested  in  Southern  race  matters.  He  suggested  that  a  meeting 
be  held  in  the  North  at  some  future  time,  so  that  the  members  of  this  body 
might  get  the  point  of  view,  first  hand,  of  people  up  there  who  are  thinking 
along  the  same  general  line. 

The  chair  welcomed  Dr.  W.  D.  Weatherford,  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and 
Mr.  J.  L.  Sibley,  State  Rural  School  Agent  in  Alabama. 

Dr.  Weatherford  spoke  of  the  influence  of  college  professors  on  the 
thought  of  students,  and  saw  in  that  a  source  of  great  service  on  the  part  of 
the  Commission.  He  said  much  progress  had  been  made  in  the  last  five  years 
in  race  conditions  in  the  South.  Institutions  of  learning,  both  for  white  and 
black,  he  said,  were  doing  an  important  work  in  bringing  speakers  to  address 
their  students  on  the  subject,  and  he  commended  those  institutions  that  have 
incorporated  courses  in  race  study  in  the  curriculum.  The  Negroes  them 
selves,  he  said,  were  beginning  to  study  in  a  serious  way  their  own  problems. 
He  stated  that  there  was  a  decided  increase  in  the  interest  taken  in  race  ques- 


26  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

tions  by  Southern  college  women  who  heretofore  have  been  pessimistic  about 
the  whole  thing  and  loath  to  take  personal  part  in  studying  any  phase  of  it. 
Now,  he  said,  about  1,500  Southern  college  women  are  actively  engaged  in 
the  study,  and  there  are  about  5,000  Southern  college  men  similarly  employed. 
One  difficulty,  he  said,  was  to  get  white  and  colored  people  to  come  together 
and  talk  the  thing  over.  Such  conferences  he  thought  essential  to  a  full  under 
standing  of  different  points  of  view  and  relative  needs.  But,  in  spite  of  the 
difficulty,  a  number  of  such  meetings  between  white  citizens  and  leading 
colored  men  are  held  every  year  in  Southern  communities.  One  of  the  great 
est  needs  at  present,  he  said,  was  to  induce  Southern  white  people  to  realize 
that  they  bear  a  heavy  responsibility  to  the  Negro.  Leading  white  people  of 
the  South,  and  the  best  colored  people,  he  said,  are  putting  much  faith  in  the 
attitude  of  college  men,  and  that  is  where  this  Commission  can  render  its 
greatest  service,  namely,  in  giving  Southern  students  a  right  point  of  view. 

Mr.  Sibley  spoke  briefly  about  the  Negro  schools  in  Alabama.  He  stated 
that  in  Alabama  there  was  very  little  opposition  to  the  vocational  idea  in 
Negro  education,  and  that  there  was  not  much  opposition  to  the  Negro  buying 
land.  "Our  experience  is,"  he  said,  "that  when  the  Negro  owns  land  he  is  a 
better  citizen,  because  it  gives  him  a  real  stake  in  the  county.  Least  race  fric 
tion  is  to  be  found  in  counties  where  the  Negro  owns  land."  He  also  said 
that  there  was  a  widespread  improvement  in  the  attitude  of  Southern  white 
people  toward  the  Negro.  "In  many  small  communities  white  citizens  are 
earnestly  trying  to  help  the  Negroes  from  the  point  of  view  of  civic,  moral, 
economic,  and  educational  progress.  In  Montgomery,"  he  added,  "the  Civic 
League  of  the  white  people  and  a  similar  league  composed  of  leading  Negroes 
work  together  admirably.  This  sort  of  thing,"  he  said,  "is  going  on  quietly 
in  the  South  to  a  much  greater  extent  than  is  generally  recognized." 

Mr.  J.  Wyatt  Rushton,  of  the  University  of  Alabama,  was  presented  to 
the  Commission.  He  spoke  of  his  work  in  Tuscaloosa  in  studying  the  status 
of  the  Negro  artisan.  He  seemed  to  think  that,  in  the  main,  the  white  artisan 
was  driving  the  skilled  Negro  out. 

There  followed  a  general  discussion  dealing  with  the  objects  of  the  Com 
mission,  how  it  should  conduct  its  work,  and  what  that  work  should  be;  also 
with  the  question  of  land  ownership  by  Negroes,  and  whether  there  is  really 
any  improvement,  fundamentally,  in  the  desire  of  the  great  mass  of  Southern 
people  to  see  the  Negro  better  educated  and  to  have  him  become  a  better  citi 
zen.  Further  discussion  was  reserved  for  a  later  session. 

Before  adjournment,  Dr.  Hoskins  presented  a  report  about  work  being 
done  at  the  University  of  Tennessee  under  the  direction  of  Prof.  T.  W. 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  27 

Glocker,  of  that  University,  in  investigating  housing  conditions,  economic  wel 
fare,  and  insurance  among  the  Negroes  of  Knoxville. 

The  second  session  was  convened  at  8  o'clock.  Professor  Branson 
started  discussion  with  a  review  of  efforts  in  North  Carolina,  chiefly  under 
the  direction  of  University  people,  in  trying  to  aid  the  Negro.  He  spoke  par 
ticularly  of  the  Negro  community  sanitation  survey  in  North  Carolina,  one  of 
the  first  and  best-conducted  surveys  of  the  kind  ever  undertaken.  Referring 
to  the  work  of  the  Commission,  he  said  it  had  not  yet  broken  into  the  student 
life  of  the  South  as  it  should.  He  suggested  that  a  syllabus,  consisting  of 
15  or  20  problems,  be  prepared  and  sent  to  civic  clubs,  literary  societies, 
Y.  M.  C.  A.'s,  etc.,  of  the  Southern  colleges,  with  the  request  that  students  be 
put  to  work  on  those  problems.  In  this  way,  he  thought,  the  influence  of  the 
Commission  might  be  widely  spread  and  a  large  number  of  students  be 
brought  into  the  field  of  actual  investigation,  the  result  being  a  better  point  of 
view  for  them.  Something  similar  to  this  had  been  done,  he  said,  through  the 
debating  clubs  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina. 

This  suggestion  of  preparing  a  syllabus  was  favorably  received  by  the 
Commission,  and  it  was  moved  that  it  be  discussed  at  length  at  a  later  meeting. 

Dr.  Bell,  after  presenting  Dr.  Sutton's  regrets  and  good  wishes  to  the 
Commission,  discussed  race  conditions  in  Texas.  The  race  question  there,  he 
said,  was  complicated  by  the  presence  of  Mexicans  and  others  in  addition  to 
the  Negroes,  and  the  matter  was  made  more  difficult  by  reason  of  that  fact. 
The  most  important  and  encouraging  progressive  step  in  Texas  in  recent 
years,  he  said,  was  the  passage  of  a  compulsory  education  law.  "It  will  not 
be  universally  enforced,"  he  said,  "but  it  furnishes  a  rallying  point  for  every 
one  interested  in  public  education  of  all  the  people,  irrespective  of  race." 
There  was  a  general  feeling  in  Texas,  he  believed,  for  education  of  Negroes, 
provided  as  much,  or  more,  were  done  for  Whites  at  the  same  time.  "There 
are  a  great  many,  however,"  he  said,  "who  still  sincerely  oppose  education  of 
the  Negro."  He  spoke  of  efforts  now  being  made  by  a  number  of  white  edu 
cators  to  have  Negro  schools  put  on  the  same  basis  as  schools  for  white 
children.  "The  biggest  problem  in  Texas,"  he  said,  "is  to  induce  the  white 
people  to  accept  the  Negro  on  the  basis  of  what  he  can  do." 

The  chair  introduced  Superintendent  Feagin,  of  Alabama.  He  said 
Alabama  had  more  of  a  white  problem  than  a  Negro  problem  from  the  school 
point  of  view.  Last  year,  he  said,  the  school  attendance  of  Negroes  was  one 
per  cent  better  than  of  Whites.  He  thought  conditions  in  Alabama  were  far 
better  than  they  had  ever  been,  and  were  improving  steadily ;  but  he  said  the 
Negro  was  not  yet  getting  a  square  deal  in  educational  support.  Alabama's 


28  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

real  problem,  he  said,  was  concerned  with  ignorant,  prejudiced  white  people, 
who  were  apparently  incapable  of  seeing  any  ultimate  value  in  educating  the 
Negro.  "We  do  not  need  compulsory  education  for  Negroes,"  he  said,  "but 
we  do  need  it  for  white  people." 

Jackson  Davis,  of  Virginia,  gave  a  short  review  of  conditions  in  Vir 
ginia.  He  thought  the  political  issue  was  becoming  less  and  less  important, 
and  that  the  land-tenure  question  was  looming  up  with  grave  possibilities  of 
friction  between  the  races.  He  also  said  a  need  that  was  widely  felt  at  present 
was  for  secondary  schools  for  Negro  teachers. 

In  the  course  of  general  discussion,  the  impression  seemed  to  be  that  as 
the  Negro  in  the  South  improved  in  educational  and  economic  well-being  the 
danger  of  friction  increased.  Also,  that  as  there  was  less  friction  on  this 
account,  and  less  probability  of  it,  in  rural  communities,  the  Negro  should  be 
induced,  if  possible,  to  stay  in  the  country. 

The  chair  called  on  members  of  the  Commission  individually  to  tell  of 
conditions  in  their  respective  states.  These  reports  showed,  in  the  main,  that 
while  much  remained  to  be  done,  and  many  of  the  white  people  of  the 
South  were  apparently  more  or  less  indifferent,  if  not  opposed,  to  Negro 
progress,  yet  there  was  decided  improvement  and  faith  in  greater  progress 
in  the  immediate  future. 

William  H.  San  ford,  of  the  Montgomery  bar,  accepted  an  invitation  to 
address  the  Commission,  but  was  called  away  unexpectedly.  He  sent  the 
paper  he  had  prepared,  which  was  read  by  the  secretary. 

The  Commission  adjourned  to  Tuskegee,  where  the  third  session  was 
called  to  order  in  Tantum  Hall  at  11  A.  M.  next  day,  May  6. 

Dr.  Booker  T.  Washington  attended  two  sessions.  He  made  a  short 
address  of  welcome  and  answered  questions  asked  by  members  of  the 
Commission. 

Dr.  Washington  said  colored  people  were  glad  that  the  Commission  was 
identified  with  the  race  study  movement.  The  Commission,  he  said,  was 
making  it  easier  for  others  to  work  for  the  uplift  of  the  Negro.  He  was 
especially  glad  that  the  Commission  was  composed  of  teachers.  "Right  pub 
lic  sentiment  at  educational  centers  will  go  far  indeed."  The  most  trouble 
some  thing  in  the  South,  he  said,  was  distorted  relations  and  reports.  "If  we 
could  get  the  actual  facts  as  to  race  relations  in  the  South  before  the  public," 
he  said,  "we  should  get  along  pretty  well  with  conditions  as  they  are.  The 
trouble  is,  most  Southern  white  people  do  not  know  the  facts  about  the  Negro. 
They  get  their  information  largely  in  roundabout  ways.  "I  think,"  he  con- 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  29 

tinued,  "that  we  are  nearing  the  end  of  political  opposition  to  the  Negro  as 
expressed  in  party  platforms.  The  Negro  has  put  as  many  men  into  office  as 
he  can  afford  to  do,  and  I  hope  the  last  one  has  ridden  in  on  the  back  of  the 
Negro.  It  is  a  hopeful  sign  that  the  Negro  is  ceasing  to  be  an  independent 
political  issue. 

"Some  white  people  seem  to  think  that  the  Negro  is  trying  to  edge  into 
political  control  and  social  equality.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  such  questions  are 
scarcely  ever  discussed  among  Negroes.  One  very  essential  thing  is  to  remove 
from  the  minds  of  white  people  the  idea  that  the  Negro  is  ambitious  for 
political  and  social  control.  The  fact  is  that  as  the  Negro  becomes  educated 
he  finds  increasing  satisfaction  among  the  members  of  his  own  race.  If  white 
people  would  pop  unexpectedly  into  Negro  homes  they  would  be  surprised  at 
the  conditions  there,  and  would  then  understand  why  the  Negro  finds  satis 
faction  in  his  own  home  circle. 

"Our  great  problem  now  is  to  get  ordinary  white  men  to  favor  Negro 
education.  If  the  vast  number  of  Negroes  are  to  be  educated  at  all,  it  must 
be  in  the  rural  public  schools.  White  men  will  vote  funds  for  Negro  education 
just  in  proportion  to  their  belief  in  the  value  of  that  education.  Educational 
and  political  leaders  must,  and  do,  consider  the  opinion  of  the  average  white 
man,  so  the  big  problem  is  how  to  convince  him.  When  he  knows  the  facts 
about  the  value  to  the  whole  country,  as  well  as  to  the  Negro  himself,  of  edu 
cation,  he  must  be  convinced.  We  are  trying  to  instil  into  the  Negro  mind 
that  if  education  does  not  make  the  Negro  humble,  simple,  and  of  service  to 
the  community,  then  it  will  not  be  encouraged.  When  the  white  people  know 
that  the  Negro  understands  this,  I  feel  that  much  of  the  opposition  now 
encountered  will  disappear.  And  all  the  time  we  ought  to  remember  that  the 
Negro  is  just  beginning  to  understand  the  meaning  of  education.  Let  us  try 
to  make  progress  in  the  big,  fundamental  things;  the  little  jolts  will  then 
disappear. 

"This  Commission  is  working  in  the  right  direction,  and,  I  believe,  is 
going  as  fast  as  it  ought  to  go.  Its  present  policy,  as  I  understand  it,  is  right. 

"As  to  the  influence  of  the  educated  Negro  on  the  uneducated,  while  it 
is  not  true  here,  yet  in  many  large  cities  it  is  a  fact  that  the  educated  Negroes 
are  weaned  away  from  the  masses  and  grow  very  sensitive  in  many  cases. 
We  should  try  to  keep  the  young,  educated  Negro  from  becoming  bitter  in 
his  attitude  toward  people  and  things  in  general.  Therefore,  I  believe  in 
industrial  education,  which  tends  to  make  the  Negro  lose  himself  in  his  job. 
He  does  not  then  have  so  much  opportunity  to  become  bitter. 


30  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

"We  hope  for  great  things  from  the  young,  educated  white  people  of  the 
South.  Here  is  another  point  of  contact  between  the  Commission  and  the 
best  work  that  is  being  done.  If  white  Southern  college  men  and  women  get 
the  right  point  of  view  they  will  not  fail  to  see  the  importance  of  educating 
all  the  people,  white  and  black. 

"Large  landowners  who  oppose  Negro  education  are  growing  fewer  in 
number.  Some  of  them  are  actually  supporting  students  at  Tuskegee. 

"The  railroads  are  giving  more  attention  to  the  comfort  and  convenience 
of  Negro  passengers.  There  is  great  improvement  and  encouragement  in  that 
respect. 

"There  is  little,  if  any,  opposition,  generally  speaking,  to  the  Negro  buy 
ing  land.  If  the  Negro  has  the  money,  his  greatest  difficulty  is  to  get  out  of 
the  way  of  the  white  man  who  has  land  to  sell. 

"Capable  Negro  artisans  have  no  difficulty  getting  jobs  under  favorable 
conditions.  The  graduates  of  Tuskegee  are  having  no  trouble  at  all.  Those 
who  fear  increased  friction  when  the  Negro  becomes  better  educated  and 
better  trained  to  take  part  in  skilled  occupations  overlook  the  fact  that  all  the 
time  white  public  opinion  is  getting  broader  and  broader  too.  Some  friction, 
however,  is  bound  to  come  in  this  transition  period.  It  is  sure  to  end,  how 
ever,  in  a  readjustment  on  a  higher  plane. 

"Colored  people  feel  very  keenly  about  the  way  crime  committed,  or 
alleged  to  have  been  committed,  by  Negroes  is  played  up  in  the  newspapers. 
We  never  see  the  Negro's  good  qualities  mentioned.  As  a  rule,  when  a 
Negro's  name  appears  in  the  newspapers  he  has  done  something  to  somebody, 
or  somebody  has  done  something  to  him.  It  may  be  true  that  the  newspaper's 
attitude  toward  the  Negro  does  not  influence  white  public  opinion  as  much  as 
the  Negro  thinks,  but  it  is  bound  to  affect  the  point  of  view  of  those  white 
people  who  do  not  know  the  Negro." 

Dr.  Washington  concluded  by  saying  that  he  spoke  for  the  educated 
Negroes  of  the  country  when  he  commended  the  aim  of  the  Commission  and 
its  present  methods.  He  said  he  knew  that  already  the  mere  use  of  the 
names  of  the  members,  as  representatives  of  Southern  State  universities,  had 
been  a  source  of  great  encouragement  to  those  who  were  working  to  bring 
about  a  permanent  basis  for  race  adjustment  in  the  South. 

Twelve  members  of  the  staff  of  Tuskegee  attended  the  morning  session. 
Each  one  spoke  briefly  of  the  attitude  of  the  educated  Negro,  which,  though 
pessimistic  in  many  instances,  was,  on  the  whole,  hopeful.  They  seemed  par 
ticularly  eager  to  effect  a  better  understanding  between  the  educated  white 
man  and  the  educated  Negro. 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  31 

Others  who  addressed  the  Commission  were  Superintendent  W.  B.  Riley, 
of  Macon  County,  Emmett  J.  Scott,  and  Prof.  W.  T.  B.  Williams. 

The  Commission  was  taken  by  automobile  over  the  farm  at  Tuskegee, 
and  then  on  an  inspection  tour  of  the  buildings,  class  sections,  and  shops. 

The  members  of  the  Commission  were  the  guests  of  honor  at  an  assembly 
in  the  main  auditorium  on  the  night  of  May  6.  Addresses  were  made  by 
Dr.  Washington,  Dr.  Dillard,  Professors  Scroggs,  Branson,  and  DeLoach. 

The  closing  session  was  held  in  Tantum  Hall  on  the  afternoon  of  May  7. 

The  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Economic  Conditions  of  Negroes  in 
the  South  submitted  a  report.  [Appendix  D.] 

It  was  decided  to  have  the  office  of  chairman  of  the  Commission  filled 
annually.  Dr.  Sutton  was  chosen  chairman  of  the  next  meeting,  time  and 
place  being  left  for  selection  to  a  committee  composed  of  the  chairman,  Dr. 
Dillard,  and  the  secretary. 

The  secretary  was  authorized  to  purchase  a  gift  to  be  sent  in  the  name 
of  the  Commission  to  Tantum  Hall  as  an  expression  of  the  Commission's 
appreciation  of  the  hospitality  extended  by  the  matron  and  young  women  of 
that  hall.  The  secretary  sent  a  silver  flower  stand,  suitably  inscribed,  in  care 
of  Dr.  Washington,  from  whom  he  received  a  cordial  letter  of  acknowledg 
ment. 

The  last  hour  and  a  half  of  the  last  session  were  devoted  to  a  frank  dis 
cussion  of  plans  of  the  Commission  for  the  future. 

Dr.  Scroggs  submitted  an  outline  for  investigation  as  to  the  civic  status 
of  the  Negro. 

Dr.  Bell  spoke  of  work  being  done  in  Texas  by  students  under  the  direc 
tion  of  Dr.  Sutton,  some  of  whose  advanced  students  were  engaged  in  making 
surveys  of  two  colleges  for  Negroes  in  Austin — Tillotson  and  Samuel  Huston 
colleges.  The  president  of  the  former  is  a  white  man,  and  nearly  all  the 
members  of  the  faculty  belong  to  the  white  race;  while  the  president  and  the 
members  of  the  faculty  of  the  latter  are  Negroes.  "The  survey,"  said  Dr. 
Bell,  "is  to  include  the  more  important  items  bearing  upon  school  efficiency, 
such  as  the  school  plant,  organization  and  administration,  the  teachers,  the 
pupils,  the  course  of  study,  and  finances.  Among  the  minor  problems  which 
the  young  men  will  attempt  to  solve  is  the  relative  ability  of  full-blood  Negroes 
and  mulattoes  as  disclosed  in  their  school  work.  Especial  attention  is  to  be 
given  to  the  operation  of  dormitories.  A  still  more  comprehensive  problem  is 
to  determine  what  need  exists  for  each  of  the  schools,  and  to  what  extent  that 
need  is  being  satisfied.  Effort  will  be  made  to  find  out,  if  possible,  what  are 


32  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

the  definite  aims  which  the  management  of  each  of  these  schools  is  seeking  to 
realize.  Another  problem  of  great  difficulty  centers  around  the  course  of 
study.  Is  each  of  these  schools  offering  such  culture  material  as  will  help  to 
relate  the  students  to  their  future  environment  ?  In  a  word,  it  is  the  purpose 
of  the  survey  to  discover  to  what  extent  each  of  these  schools  is  functioning 
in  the  preparation  of  colored  students  for  rational,  effective  service." 

Dr.  Kennon,  Dr.  Morse,  Dr.  Hoskins,  Dr.  Branson,  and  Dr.  DeLoach 
described  investigations  and  studies  by  students  at  their  respective  universities 
and  by  others  in  their  respective  communities. 

The  Commission  adjourned  at  5  P.  M.,  May  7,  1915. 

SIXTH  MEETING,  DURHAM,  N.  C.,  TRINITY  COLLEGE  AND  THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  NORTH  CAROLINA,  JANUARY  4  AND  5,  1916 

The  sixth  meeting  of  the  Commission  was  called  to  order  at  the  Mai- 
bourne  Hotel,  Durham,  N.  C.,  on  the  morning  of  January  4,  by  the  chairman, 
Dr.  W.  S.  Sutton.  All  the  members  were  present  except  Dr.  Farr  and 
Dr.  Kennon. 

Dr.  Dillard  presented  a  note  from  President  W.  P.  Few,  of  Trinity  Col 
lege,  on  behalf  of  some  of  the  leading  colored  business  men  of  Durham,  in 
viting  the  Commission  to  hold  a  session  at  the  North  Carolina  Mutual  and 
Provident  Association  building.  The  invitation  was  accepted. 

Dr.  Dillard  had  proposed  that  a  copy  of  the  minutes  of  the  meeting  held 
at  Tuskegee  be  sent  Mr.  Anson  Phelps  Stokes.  This  was  done,  and  a  reply 
from  Mr.  Stokes  stated  that  he  was  greatly  pleased  with  the  sort  of  work 
the  Commission  was  doing,  and  that  he  appreciated  the  thought  in  bringing  it 
to  his  attention  in  this  way. 

The  chief  business  considered  at  the  Durham  meeting  was  a  proposed 
letter  on  lynching  to  be  addressed  to  the  college  men  of  the  South.  The  draft 
submitted  by  Dr.  Morse  was  taken  up  a  paragraph  at  a  time  and  carefully 
considered  from  every  point  of  view.  The  draft,  with  amendments,  was 
referred  to  a  committee  composed  of  Dr.  Morse,  Dr.  Scroggs,  and  Dr. 
DeLoach  for  final  wording,  and  when  reported  to  the  Commission  was 
adopted  and  ordered  published.  [Appendix  A  (I).] 

A  copy  of  the  letter  was  sent  to  the  Associated  Press,  and  copies  were 
sent  by  telegraph  to  the  leading  Southern  and  several  Northern  newspapers. 
Four  hundred  copies  were  later  sent  to  college,  university,  denominational, 
and  other  papers,  and  to  libraries  and  other  institutions.  As  far  as  the  secre 
tary  was  able  to  learn,  the  letter  was  widely  circulated  through  the  press  and 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  33 

was  printed  in  many  college  papers.  It  was  favorably  commented  upon  edi 
torially  in  many  instances,  and  in  some  was  highly  commended. 

Rev.  Dr.  E.  R.  Leyburn,  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Durham,  was  a  guest  at  the  afternoon  session.  He  spoke  briefly  in  commen 
dation  of  the  aim  of  the  Commission,  and  the  influence  it  must  have,  not  only 
in  bringing  about  a  wiser  consideration  of  race  questions  in  the  South,  but 
also  in  the  general  way  of  encouraging  open  discussion  of  all  matters  of  vital 
public  interest.  He  thought  the  Commission  would  exert  a  helpful  influence 
in  destroying  an  undoubted  aloofness  that  had  grown  up  between  the  college 
and  the  community  in  many  parts  of  the  South.  "The  college,"  he  said, 
"should  be  an  aid  to  the  community  in  handling  all  public  questions,"  and  he 
believed  the  University  Commission  was  already  rendering  service  in  making 
possible  greater  cooperation  between  the  college  and  the  community,  and  a 
better  understanding  of  each  other's  point  of  view.  He  said  the  Commission 
was  helping  to  put  the  colleges  in  the  right  relation  to  the  masses  of  the 
people.  "When  it  is  understood,"  he  said,  "that  the  college  can  and  will  help, 
not  only  its  own  crowd,  but  the  people  at  large  as  well,  the  mass  of  the  people 
will  rally  to  its  support  and  will  fall  in  behind  public  movements  championed 
by  the  college." 

The  evening  session  was  held  in  the  board  rooms  of  the  North  Carolina 
Mutual  and  Provident  Association.  This  is  an  insurance  and  banking  com 
pany  whose  officers  and  directors  are  the  leading  colored  men  of  Durham, 
twelve  of  whom  were  present.  President  Few,  of  Trinity  College,  accom 
panied  the  Commission  and  took  part  in  the  meeting.  Dr.  Sutton  called  on 
several  of  the  colored  men  present  to  speak  to  the  Commission  frankly  on  any 
topic  that  was  of  particular  interest  to  them.  Three  subjects  were  empha 
sized — segregation,  education,  and  industry. 

Dr.  A.  M.  Moore  spoke  of  segregation  and  its  effect  on  the  Negro  and 
on  the  white  man  in  the  South.  He  said  that  the  Negro  objected  to  the  treat 
ment  he  received  after  segregation  was  accomplished.  "The  Negro,"  he  said, 
"prefers  to  live  to  himself.  Segregation  will  always  follow  naturally,  pro 
vided  the  treatment  given  the  Negro  in  the  way  of  paving,  sewerage,  and 
general  conditions  of  life  is  reasonably  decent.  Even  here  in  Durham,  where 
we  have  had  no  trouble  at  all  about  this  question,  the  Negro  section  is  poorly 
paved,  where  paved  at  all ;  the  lighting  is  miserable,  and  the  sewerage  question 
is  so  inadequately  handled  that  conditions  are  a  menace  to  health.  It  is  only 
natural  that,  in  view  of  this  situation,  which  seems  to  be  general,  the  Negro 
should  look  with  disfavor  on  the  idea  of  segregation.  We  naturally  segregate 
ourselves.  All  we  ask  is  justice." 


34  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

Dr.  Moore  pointed  out  how  dangerous  to  the  safety  and  health  of  the 
white  people  of  a  community  was  this  neglect  of  the  section  occupied  by 
Negroes.  "The  Negro  section  of  many  a  Southern  town,"  he  said,  "is  a 
breeding  place  for  germs  of  disease  and  crime,  largely  because  of  miserable 
sanitary  and  housing  conditions." 

Dr.  Moore  also  spoke  of  Negro  education,  and  said  the  greatest  need 
felt  among  Southern  Negroes  at  this  time  was  that  of  competent  teachers. 
"The  teachers,"  he  said,  "are  so  poorly  prepared  and  paid  that  the  Negro 
schools  are  seriously  handicapped.  The  Negroes  of  Durham  are  working 
hard  to  improve  this  condition,  but  not  much  can  be  done  without  the  help  of 
the  white  people." 

C.  C.  Spaulding,  general  manager  of  the  North  Carolina  Mutual  and 
Provident  Association,  spoke  of  the  industrial  growth  of  the  Negroes  in 
North  Carolina.  He  estimated  that  the  assessed  valuation  of  property 
owned  by  Negroes  in  North  Carolina  had  increased  more  than  30  per  cent  in 
the  last  year.  Also,  that  the  Negroes  of  Durham  alone  paid  taxes  last  year 
on  $500,000  assessment.  He  said  the  Negro  owed  much  to  the  kindly  counsel 
of  his  white  friends,  and  he  believed  the  white  business  men  of  Durham  were 
as  proud  of  the  progress  the  Negroes  were  making  as  the  Negroes  themselves 
were.  This  feeling,  he  said,  was  especially  noticeable  among  the  young  white 
men,  which,  he  said,  was  a  most  encouraging  sign  from  the  point  of  view  of 
cordial  relationship.  He  believed  conditions  in  Durham  were  exceptional,  but 
he  thought  there  was  general  improvement  throughout  the  South,  with  a  few 
exceptions  here  and  there. 

John  Merrick,  said  to  be  the  wealthiest  Negro  in  the  Carolinas,  in  the 
course  of  an  unusually  interesting  talk,  said  the  members  of  the  Commission 
would  never  know  how  great  was  the  encouragement  felt  by  the  thinking 
Negroes  of  the  South  when  they  learned  that  a  number  of  Southern  college 
and  university  professors  were  taking  the  trouble  to  go  about  the  South, 
encourage  white  and  colored  men  to  meet  together  and  talk  frankly  about 
their  mutual  problems,  and  hear  both  sides  of  the  much-misunderstood  race 
question.  He  said  he  was  sure  he  spoke  for  thousands  of  influential  Negroes 
when  he  said  that  no  single  thing  had  occurred  in  the  South  in  many  years 
that  had  had  such  a  stimulating  effect  on  the  thinking  Negroes  as  the  organi 
zation  of  a  body  of  Southern  college  men  with  the  object,  among  others,  of 
encouraging  open  and  unprejudiced  consideration  of  all  matters  affecting 
both  races. 

The  meeting  was  concluded  with  an  informal  round  table  question  and 
answer  discussion,  in  which  the  members  of  the  Commission,  President  Few, 
Dr.  Ley  burn,  and  several  of  the  Negroes  present  took  part. 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  35 

The  morning  session  on  the  5th  of  January  was  held  at  Trinity  College. 
In  addition  to  President  Few,  the  following  members  of  Trinity  College 
faculty  were  present  and  spoke  briefly  about  various  phases  of  the  race 
question : 

W.  K.  Boyd,  Professor  of  History ;  E.  C.  Brooks,  Professor  of  Educa 
tion;  W.  F.  Laprade,  Professor  of  Political  Science;  R.  L.  Flowers,  Pro 
fessor  of  Mathematics,  and  W.  H.  Glasson,  Professor  of  Economics. 

Professor  Brooks  spoke  of  a  school  survey  which  he  had  recently  com 
pleted  in  Durham.  One  of  the  results  of  this  survey,  he  said,  was  the 
discovery  that  the  teeth  and  eyes  of  the  Negro  school  children  were  in  much 
better  condition  than  were  those  of  the  white  school  children.  It  was  also 
found,  he  said,  that  the  Negro  children  were  far  more  proficient  at  manual 
exercises  than  the  white  children,  and  that  the  white  children  excelled  in 
academic  studies.  He  believed  that  home  conditions  had  much  to  do  with 
these  results,  and  not  incapacity  on  the  part  of  Negro  children  to  master  book 
learning.  A  culture  background,  be  believed,  was  essential  in  most  cases  to 
progress  with  book  studies  for  both  white  and  black,  and  he  believed  the  lack 
of  such  background  was  responsible  largely  for  the  failure  of  Negro  children 
to  measure  up  well  in  comparison  with  white  children.  But  these  conclusions, 
he  said,  were  tentative,  and  he  recommended  a  wide  survey  of  the  whole 
South,  which  might,  he  said,  shed  light  on  the  question  concerning  the  wisest 
way  to  use  funds  voted  for  educational  purposes  to  the  best  advantage  of 
both  white  and  black. 

Professor  Boyd  said  he  was  surprised  to  find  how  eagerly  his  students 
at  Trinity  went  about  the  study  of  race  questions  when  given  topics  bearing 
on  the  general  subject  for  discussion  as  class  exercises.  He  thought  this 
practice  should  be  encouraged  at  all  Southern  colleges.  Southern  college  men, 
he  said,  should  be  brought  face  to  face  in  a  scholarly  way  with  the  race 
problem,  and  he  said  he  had  found  essay  writing,  with  such  subjects  as  segre 
gation,  education  of  Negroes,  manual  training  versus  book  learning,  the 
Negro  in  politics,  the  colored  church,  the  colored  minister  as  a  leader,  the 
Negro  business  man,  the  Negro  and  the  trade  union,  the  Negro  club,  social 
and  beneficial,  etc.,  both  interesting  to  the  student  and  productive  of  good 
results. 

Professor  Laprade  thought  the  Negro  should  be  taught  to  have  race 
pride,  to  be  proud  to  be  a  Negro.  Economic  independence,  he  said,  and  what 
Dr.  Dillard  had  referred  to  as  a  new  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  white  man — 
namely,  to  treat  the  Negro  man  to  man,  and  not  as  master  and  servant — were 
the  most  desirable  aids  to  this  race  pride. 


36  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

Professor  Glasson  said  factory  life  in  the  South  showed  that  the  Negro 
was  not  holding  his  own  industrially.  "The  Negro  can  not  live  a  decent  life," 
he  said,  "without  the  opportunity  to  earn  and  the  desire  to  have  decent  living." 

President  Few  said  he  was  again  impressed  with  one  great  service  the 
Commission  could  perform,  and  that  was  to  induce  thoughtful  white  men  of 
the  South  to  have  the  courage  to  do  the  right  thing  in  dealing  with  the 
Negroes  in  their  communities.  "Washington  Duke's  attitude  toward  the 
Negro,"  he  said,  "did  much  to  make  possible  the  excellent  conditions  between 
the  races  in  Durham." 

The  following  telegram  from  Clarence  H.  Poe  was  received  and  read  to 
the  Commission: 

"Keenly  regret  inability  to  accept  your  invitation.  I  should  like  to 
emphasize  that  there  are  three  parties  to  the  race  problem — first,  the  Negro; 
second,  the  wealthy  or  professional  white  man  unaffected  by  Negro  competi 
tion;  third,  the  poor,  laboring  white  man  who  does,  and  must,  face  such 
competition.  I  would  not  have  less  sympathy  or  thought  for  the  Negro,  but 
more  for  the  disadvantaged  white  man.  Hope  your  Commission  will  study 
this  third  factor,  and  also  inquire  if  separate  grouping  does  not  encourage 
better  Negro  leadership  and  community  life;  also  make  a  study  of  mulatto 
traits  and  achievements  as  distinguished  from  pure  Negro,  and  inquire  to 
what  extent  mulattoes  are  increasing." 

A  paper,  dealing  with  "Booker  T.  Washington  as  a  Leader  in  the  Field 
of  Negro  Education  in  the  South,"  was  presented  by  Professor  Doster. 

The  Commission  then  adjourned,  to  meet  again  in  the  afternoon  at 
Chapel  Hill. 

After  dinner  at  the  home  of  Professor  Branson  a  meeting  was  held  in 
Peabody  Hall,  University  of  North  Carolina.  The  following  members  of  the 
faculty  of  the  University  were  present  and  took  part  in  the  discussions : 

Dean  M.  H.  Stacy;  Dean  C.  L.  Raper,  Professor  of  Economics;  H.  W. 
Chase,  Professor  of  Psychology;  Archibald  Henderson,  Professor  of  Pure 
Mathematics;  M.  C.  S.  Noble,  Professor  of  Pedagogy;  T.  J.  Wilson,  As 
sociate  Professor  of  Latin;  K.  P.  Battle,  Professor  Emeritus  of  History;  J. 
G.  deR.  Hamilton,  Professor  of  History;  E.  L.  Rankin,  of  the  Department 
of  University  Extension,  and  H.  H.  Williams,  Professor  of  Philosophy. 

President  E.  K.  Graham  sent  a  cordial  letter  of  welcome,  in  which  he  ex 
pressed  keen  regret  that  an  engagement  in  New  York  prevented  his  being 
present. 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  37 

Professor  Williams  spoke  of  the  inadequate  pay  and  training  of  Negro 
school  teachers.  He  said  he  was  almost  ready  to  state  as  his  belief  that  many 
Negro  teachers  who  were  available  were  worse  than  no  teachers  at  all. 

Professor  Chase  said  too  few  facts  were  available  as  to  relative  mental 
ability  of  white  and  black  school  children.  He  thought  a  very  helpful  thing 
would  be  a  careful  psychological  study  of  white  and  black  school  children, 
with  the  object  of  finding  out,  if  possible,  how  the  education  of  the  children 
of  both  races  should  be  directed.  He  felt  sure,  he  said,  that  through  ignorance 
a  great  deal  of  time  and  money  was  being  wasted. 

Dr.  Battle  spoke  earnestly  against  segregation.  He  said  that  he  believed 
segregation  made  matters  worse  wherever  and  however  it  was  tried.  As  to 
rural  segregation  specifically,  he  said  he  believed  a  Negro  neighbor  was  a 
decided  help  rather  than  a  hindrance  to  the  white  man. 

Professor  Hamilton  said  there  was  widespread  ignorance  throughout  the 
country  of  the  rural  Negro.  Permanent  improvement  in  the  lot  of  the  Negro 
in  the  South,  he  said,  can  only  come  after  we  understand  the  Negro  who  lives 
not  in  the  cities  or  the  more  or  less  thickly  populated  sections,  but  away  off  in 
the  country.  We'll  never  get  far  in  this  business,  he  said,  until  we  know  the 
point  of  view  of  the  genuine  common  country  Negro,  and  we  know  little,  if 
anything,  about  him  now. 

Professor  Wilson  said  the  University  of  North  Carolina  was  beginning, 
with  much  success,  to  include  the  Negro  in  the  work  of  the  extension  depart 
ment.  Bible  classes  and  reading  clubs  were  conducted  by  students,  he  said, 
and  were  largely  attended  by  the  Negroes  of  Chapel  Hill  and  vicinity.  The 
students,  he  said,  showed  lively  interest  in  the  work. 

Professor  Henderson  spoke  of  the  fact  that  the  Negro  youth  of  ability 
was  constantly  being  drawn  away  from  the  South.  He  believed  that  the  edu 
cated  Negro  youth  would  be  of  great  service  if  kept  at  home.  One  reason 
why  the  educated,  progressive  young  Negroes  leave  the  South,  he  said,  was 
the  lack  of  sympathy  and  encouragement  from  their  white  neighbors.  "We 
do  not  seem  to  get  the  point  of  view,"  he  said,  "of  the  educated  young  Negro 
to-day.  We  don't  understand  him.  This  lack  of  understanding  breeds  dis 
trust.  On  the  other  hand,  the  ignorant  Negro  is  still  exploited  in  many  ways 
by  white  men.  We  must  try  to  protect  the  ignorant  Negro  from  his  own 
ignorance,  and  also  we  must  try  to  make  it  worth  while  for  the  young  Negro 
of  the  better  sort  to  stay  in  the  South." 

Dean  Stacy  said  he  believed  the  political  question  was  settling  itself,  as 
segregation  and  other  questions  would  if  permitted  to  .be  worked  out  natu 
rally.  "Negroes  vote  here  in  Chapel  Hill,"  he  said,  "and  there  is  no  white 
opposition  at  all,  so  far  as  I  know." 


38  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

At  the  business  session  Professor  Hoskins  was  unanimously  elected 
chairman  for  the  next  meeting. 

It  was  decided  to  hold  the  next  meeting  late  in  August,  the  exact  time 
and  place  to  be  fixed  by  the  chairman  and  Dr.  Dillard.  This  meeting,  it  was 
decided,  should  last  at  least  three  days,  when  the  work  of  the  Commission  and 
its  usefulness  in  the  future  might  be  fully  discussed. 

The  conference  adjourned  at  3  :30  P.  M.,  January  5. 

SEVENTH  MEETING,  BLUE  RIDGE  AND  ASHEVILLE,  N.  C., 
AUGUST  30,  31,  AND  SEPTEMBER  1,  1916 

The  seventh  meeting  of  the  Commission  was  called  to  order  in  Lee  Hall, 
Blue  Ridge,  N.  C.,  at  10  A.  M.,  August  30,  1916,  by  the  chairman,  Professor 
Hoskins.  Mr.  C.  F.  Quillian,  representing  Dr.  Weatherford,  welcomed  the 
Commission  to  Blue  Ridge.  He  made  particular  reference  to  the  class  con 
ducted  by  Dr.  Branson  at  Blue  Ridge,  and  stated  that  the  meeting  of  the 
Commission  there  emphasized  in  a  very  helpful  way  the  attention  given  by  the 
Blue  Ridge  conferences  to  social  matters. 

The  chairman  called  on  Dr.  Dillard,  who  referred  to  the  first  open 
letter  to  the  college  students  of  the  South.  He  said  he  had  heard  many 
favorable  comments  on  this  letter  in  the  North  and  South,  and  said  it  seemed 
to  him  to  be  exactly  in  line  with  the  sort  of  thing  the  Commission  should  do. 
A  big  problem  in  the  South,  he  said,  was  the  creation  of  sound  public  opinion, 
not  only  as  to  the  Negro,  but  in  many  other  ways.  ' There  are  plenty  of 
people  in  the  South,"  he  said,  "who  are  ready  to  stand  by  the  man  who  speaks 
in  the  name  of  justice."  He  suggested  that  the  Commission  issue  another 
letter,  this  one  to  deal  primarily  with  the  education  of  the  Negro. 

The  chairman  called  on  each  member  of  the  Commission  to  discuss  con 
ditions  of  race  relationship  in  his  own  State.  This  resulted  in  an  "experience 
meeting"  of  great  interest.  The  general  impression  seemed  to  be  that 
Southern  white  men  were  more  ready  now  than  ever  before  to  uphold  the  idea 
of  justice  to  the  Negro,  and  that  there  was  a  frankness  in  discussing  race 
matters  that  was  absent  a  few  years  ago.  There  seemed  to  be  a  growing 
willingness  to  share  educational  funds  more  equitably,  the  railroads  were 
giving  Negroes  better  accommodations,  the  white  business  men  were  taking 
more  interest  in  Negro  business  men  and  their  organizations,  municipal 
governments  were  more  ready  to  consider  living  conditions  in  the  Negro  quar 
ters  of  Southern  cities  relatively  to  those  obtaining  in  the  sections  occupied  by 
white  people,  trade  unions  were  showing  a  more  sympathetic  feeling  toward 
Negro  workmen,  etc.  Dr.  Kennon  mentioned  the  fact  that  in  conferring  the 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  39 

degree  of  doctor  of  laws  recently,  the  University  of  Mississippi  emphasized 
the  point  that  the  degree  was  conferred  in  that  instance  in  recognition  of 
studies  made  by  the  man  who  received  it  in  the  field  of  race  relationships. 

Reports  from  the  Southern  States  showed  somewhat  improved  conditions 
of  Negro  living  and  opportunity.  An  earnest  discussion  followed,  in  which 
each  member  of  the  Commission  gave  his  views  as  to  the  future  of  the  Negro 
in  the  South.  All  seemed  to  think  that  the  real  problem  ultimately  would  be : 
What  will  be  the  attitude  of  the  South  when  the  Negro  is  economically  and 
educationally  capable,  in  large  numbers,  of  competing  in  a  fair  field  with  the 
white  man? 

At  present,  it  was  pointed  out,  the  ignorant  white  man's  jealousy  of  and 
antipathy  toward  the  well-to-do,  as  well  as  the  shiftless  Negro,  constituted  a 
problem  of  grave  concern. 

Dr.  Sutton  expressed  the  belief  that  the  white  man  would  develop  in  his 
attitude  as  the  Negro  developed  in  his  opportunity  and  capability,  and  that 
it  was  a  waste  of  time  to  anticipate  the  problems  of  the  future.  "Our  busi 
ness,"  he  said,  "is  to  see  that  the  Negro  becomes  as  good  a  citizen  now  as 
possible,  with  opportunities  commensurate  with  his  aptitudes,  economically 
and  morally." 

Dr.  Thomas,  in  the  course  of  a  statement  as  to  conditions  in  Arkansas, 
read  a  letter  which  he  wrote  in  condemnation  of  a  recent  lynching  in  that 
State.  The  letter  was  printed  in  the  newspapers.  Dr.  Scroggs  suggested  that 
the  letter  be  incorporated  in  the  minutes  of  the  Commission,  and  Dr.  Morse 
moved  that  the  Commission  formally  approve  it.  [Appendix  F.] 

A  committee  consisting  of  Professors  Sutton,  Morse,  and  Scroggs  was 
appointed  to  draft  a  letter  dealing  with  the  education  of  the  Negro. 

MEETINGS  IN  ASHEVILLE 

B.  C.  Caldwell,  of  the  Slater  and  Jeanes  Funds,  addressed  the  Com 
mission  at  the  morning  session  at  the  Battery  Park  Hotel,  Asheville,  on 
August  31 .  Among  other  things,  he  spoke  of  the  liberal  attitude  of  Southern 
newspapers  toward  the  Negro  and  his  achievements  and  derelictions.  He 
thought  there  was  a  growing  tendency  among  Southern  newspapers  to  be  just 
to  the  Negro.  The  effect  of  this,  he  said,  was  tremendous  from  the  point  of 
view  of  public  opinion.  He  also  spoke  of  the  better  chances  of  the  Southern 
Negro  nowadays  in  trades  and  other  forms  of  business  enterprise. 

The  report  of  the  committee  on  the  second  letter  was  considered  and 
further  discussion  postponed  to  a  later  session. 


40  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

In  the  afternoon  the  Commission's  guests  included  Dr.  Carl  V.  Reynolds, 
City  Health  Officer  of  Asheville;  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  F.  Campbell,  pastor  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Asheville;  D.  Hiden  Ramsey,  Commis 
sioner  of  Public  Safety  of  Asheville;  and  Rev.  Willis  Clark,  rector  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  of  Asheville. 

Dr.  Reynolds  spoke  of  the  Negro  and  public  health.  He  said  that  in  a 
large  measure  the  burden  of  a  high  death  rate  was  unjustly  saddled  on  the 
Negro.  The  Negro  was  really  immune  to  a  great  many  diseases,  he  said.  He 
spoke  of  the  fact  that  living  conditions  forced  on  Negroes  in  many  localities 
made  adequate  protection  against  tuberculosis  an  impossibility. 

Dr.  Campbell  said  the  mere  fact  of  the  Commission  was  heartening.  He 
commended  the  policy  of  trying  to  reach  college  students.  In  the  South  there 
is  vast  ignorance  of  the  Negro  by  the  white,  he  said,  and  he  thought  the  Com 
mission  was  on  the  right  track  in  its  efforts  to  arouse  the  interest  of  Southern 
college  men  in  the  question  of  race  relationships. 

Rev.  Mr.  Clark  thought  the  point  of  greatest  contact  between  the  races 
was  religion,  and  he  urged  that  colored  ministers  be  induced  to  work  with 
the  white  people  who  were  seeking  the  improvement  of  the  conditions  of  the 
mass  of  the  colored  people. 

Mr.  Ramsey  spoke  especially  of  the  Negro  criminal.  The  masses  of  the 
Negroes,  he  said,  do  not,  as  a  rule,  recognize  any  social  obligation  on  their 
part  to  help  enforce  and  keep  the  law.  It  was  also  a  fact,  he  said,  that  sen 
tence  to  jail  was  not  as  great  a  social  detriment  to  the  Negro  as  to  the  white 
man.  The  same  penalty  that  would  deter  a  white  man  would  not  deter  the 
average  Negro.  He  further  stated  that  the  ownership  of  property  seemed  to 
curb  criminality  among  Negroes.  He  found  that  among  Negro  criminals 
there  were  very  few  who  owned  property. 

In  the  evening  the  Commission  held  a  meeting  at  the  City  Hall  in  Ashe 
ville,  at  which  time  Dr.  J.  W.  Walker  and  Dr.  R.  H.  Bryant,  colored  physi 
cians;  Rev.  C.  B.  Dusenbury,  pastor  of  the  colored  Presbyterian  Church; 
B.  J.  Jackson,  a  successful  colored  business  man;  and  W.  S.  Lee  and  J.  H. 
Michael,  principals  of  the  colored  schools,  spoke  to  the  Commission.  As 
many  as  twenty  Negro  citizens  were  present,  as  well  as  a  number  of  white 
citizens,  including  several  city  officials. 

The  concluding  session  was  devoted  to  a  revision  of  the  proposed  second 
letter  to  the  college  men  of  the  South.  [Appendix  A  (II).] 

Professor  E.  C.  Branson,  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  was 
chosen  chairman  of  the  Commission  for  the  succeeding  year. 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  41 

The  selection  of  the  time  and  place  of  the  next  meeting  was  left  to  a 
committee  consisting  of  the  chairman,  Dr.  Dillard,  and  the  secretary. 

Those  present  at  the  meeting  were : 

Prof.  E.  C.  Branson,  Dr.  William  L.  Kennon,  Dr.  Josiah  Morse,  Prof. 
James  J.  Doster,  Prof.  James  D.  Hoskins  (chairman),  Dr.  William  O. 
Scroggs,  Dr.  William  S.  Sutton,  Dr.  David  Y.  Thomas,  Prof.  William  M. 
Hunley  (secretary),  Dr.  James  H.  Dillard. 

EIGHTH  MEETING,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  AUGUST  29,  30,  AND  31,  1917 

The  eighth  meeting  of  the  Commission  was  held  in  Washington  on 
August  29,  30,  and  31,  1917.  Professor  Branson  presided  at  the  several  ses 
sions.  All  the  members  were  present  except  Professors  Farr,  Kennon,  and 
Brooks. 

The  meeting  was  scheduled  to  be  held  in  Washington  chiefly  that  the 
members  might  have  an  opportunity  of  attending  the  sessions  of  the  Educa 
tional  Conference  held  at  the  call  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of 
Education. 

The  Commission's  first  session  was  called  to  order  in  one  of  the  rooms 
of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Building  on  the  evening  of  August  29.  The  minutes 
of  the  last  meeting  were  read  and  approved. 

Guests  of  the  Commission  included  Dr.  Thomas  Jesse  Jones,  George 
Foster  Peabody,  Julius  Rosenwald,  Dr.  R.  R.  Moton,  T.  J.  Woofter,  Jr., 
T.  R.  Snaveley,  R.  H.  Leavell,  Prof.  W.  T.  B.  Williams,  and  Prof.  Francis  D. 
Tyson. 

Dr.  Jones  extended  an  invitation  to  the  Commission  to  attend  as  many 
sessions  of  the  conference  on  Negro  education  as  possible.  On  motion  of 
Dr.  Sutton,  it  was  decided  that  the  members  attend  as  the  Commission. 

Professor  Branson  explained  the  purposes  of  the  Commission  and  out 
lined  its  activities.  He  then  called  on  several  of  the  guests  to  speak  briefly 
about  Negro  Migration,  which,  he  said,  was  to  be  the  chief  subject  that  the 
Commission  would  consider  at  this  meeting.  Those  who  spoke  were  Mr. 
Peabody,  Mr.  Rosenwald,  Dr.  Moton,  Mr.  Woofter,  Mr.  Snaveley,  Mr. 
Leavell,  Professor  Williams,  and  Dr.  Tyson. 

It  seemed  to  be  the  consensus 'of  opinion  that  the  cause  of  the  Negro 
leaving  the  South  was  a  natural  one,  namely,  that  he  was  influenced  in  part 
by  dissatisfaction  with  conditions  under  which  he  was  forced  to  live,  and 
mainly,  perhaps,  because  of  the  lure  of  higher  wages. 

After  a  general  discussion  the  session  adjourned,  to  meet  again  on 
August  30th  at  the  Hotel  Raleigh. 


42  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

SESSION  AT  THE  RALEIGH 

The  Commission  was  called  to  order  by  the  chairman  at  10  o'clock  A.  M. 
Before  proceeding  to  the  educational  conferences  there  was  a  brief  discussion 
of  Negro  Education,  in  which  the  following  points  were  emphasized: 

"The  importance  of  elementary  schools  to  the  economic,  hygienic,  and 
moral  welfare  of  the  white  and  colored  people  of  the  Southern  states  is  funda 
mental. 

"The  reports  of  State  superintendents  are  practically  unanimous  in  their 
presentation  of  the  poverty  and  inadequacy  of  the  elementary  schools. 

"The  elementary  schools  are  peculiarly  the  responsibility  of  public 
authorities. 

"The  State  and  Jeanes  Fund  supervisors  are  rendering  great  service  in 
awakening  the  interest  of  State  and  local  authorities. 

"There  are  great  possibilities  in  the  private  schools  in  improving  the 
elementary  schools." 

In  the  afternoon  the  Commission  met  in  a  room  in  the  Department  of 
the  Interior  Building.  President  John  Hope,  of  Morehouse  College,  Atlanta, 
spoke  of  the  growing  feeling  among  the  Negroes  of  Atlanta  that  "it  won't 
do  no  good."  In  nineteen  years,  he  said,  Atlanta  had  gone  backward  in 
public  school  facilities  for  the  Negro.  There  is  no  Negro  high  school  in 
Atlanta,  he  said,  and  only  about  three  in  the  State  of  Georgia.  He  stated 
that  in  the  Atlanta  colored  schools  there  was  no  industrial  training  at  all. 
He  added,  however,  that  the  Negroes  had  voted  for  school  bonds  and  had 
been  promised  additional  schools.  "The  Negroes  have  complained  and  have 
received  a  respectful  hearing  from  the  school  board,"  he  said,  "but  they  still 
believe  that  it ' won't  do  no  good.'  The  Negroes  are  growing  restless.  When 
Atlanta  was  'cleaned  up,'  the  Negro  quarter  was  ignored.  These  things  are 
conducive  to  migration." 

Prof.  Monroe  N.  Work,  of  Tuskegee,  gave  his  impressions  of  the  migra 
tion.  "It  is  a  leaderless  movement,"  he  said,  "and  presents  the  greatest  oppor 
tunity  since  emancipation  for  readjustment  of  racial  relations."  He  said 
good  should  come  out  of  the  exodus :  better  health  conditions,  less  crime,  and 
better  educational  facilities  in  the  South. 

Discussion  brought  out  the  fact  that  there  was  a  considerable  migration 
of  whites,  as  well  as  blacks.  President  Hope  stated  that  he  had  seen  labor 
agents  in  Cincinnati  getting  Negro  laborers  to  go  South  to  work  in  Alabama 
mines.  He  said  many  Negroes  were  going,  and  this  constituted  a  counter- 
migration  movement  of  considerable  importance. 


i    MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  43 

Prof.  George  E.  Haynes,  of  Fisk  University,  pointed  out  that  the  move 
ment  of  the  Negro  to  the  North  had  been  going  on  since  the  Civil  War, 
especially  since  1880.  He  said  the  Negro  was  going  cityward,  more  to 
Northern  than  to  Southern  cities.  He  said  he  had  traveled  extensively  in  the 
South  in  the  past  year  and  had  found  districts  where  there  were  no  emigrants ; 
in  other  districts  the  population  had  almost  vanished.  In  the  districts  of  the 
last-mentioned  kind,  he  said,  racial  troubles  were  more  frequent. 

Discussion  indicated  that  the  opinion  was  prevalent  among  students  of 
the  question  that  migration  so  far  had  not  been  very  harmful  to  the  South; 
that  conditions  in  the  North  where  the  Negroes  had  gone  in  large  numbers 
were  in  many  cases  a  repetition  of  those  prevailing  in  the  Southern  sections 
of  large  Negro  population ;  that  there  was  as  yet  no  very  pronounced  short 
age  of  labor,  and  that  better  racial  relations,  based  on  frankness,  fairness,  and 
knowledge,  would  check  the  migration  movement. 

NIGHT  SESSION  AT  THE  RALEIGH 

The  Commission  convened  again  at  the  Raleigh  at  8  p.  M.  On  motion  of 
Dr.  Sutton  the  secretary  was  directed  to  write  a  letter  of  sympathy  on  behalf 
of  the  Commission  to  Mrs.  Frissell  on  the  death  of  her  husband,  Dr.  H.  B. 
Frissell. 

Professor  Doster  was  unanimously  chosen  chairman  for  the  year  fol 
lowing  this  meeting. 

There  was  discussion  of  a  proposal  presented  by  Dr.  Dillard  that  the 
Commission  authorize  Mrs.  J.  D.  Hammond  to  act  as  publicity  director  and 
send  to  the  newspapers  articles  dealing  with  the  Negro  question  and  allied 
topics.  The  Commission  decided  to  leave  the  proposal  with  the  chairman,  sub 
ject  to  final  vote  by  the  members. 

Dr.  Morse  presented  a  letter  to  be  sent  out  as  a  third  open  letter  to  the 
college  men  of  the  South.  After  some  discussion  and  amendment  it  was  unani 
mously  adopted,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  absent  members.  It  was  de 
cided  that  the  secretary  should  publish  the  letter.  [Appendix  A  (III).] 

It  was  decided  that  the  Commission  should  attend  the  closing  sessions 
of  the  educational  conference  on  August  31st. 

The  Commission  then  adjourned,  subject  to  the  call  of  the  chairman. 


From  the  large  amount  of  matter  so  far  collected  the  papers  contained  in 
the  following  Appendix  were  selected  for  publication  in  these  Minutes  as 
being  perhaps  of  most  immediate  interest  and  of  most  value  for  future 
reference. 


APPENDIX 

(A) 


OPEN  LETTERS  FROM  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  ON  SOUTHERN  RACE  QUESTIONS 
TO  THE  COLLEGE  MEN  OF  THE  SOUTH 


LYNCHING 

This  letter  is  not  written  to  convince  you  that  lynching  is  a  crime,  for  you  know  it 
already.  Its  object  is  to  urge  you  to  show  others  whenever  opportunity  presents  itself  that 
lynching  does  more  than  rob  its  victims  of  their  constitutional  rights  and  of  their  lives.  It 
simultaneously  lynches  law  and  justice  and  civilization,  and  outrages  all  the  finer  human 
sentiments  and  feelings. 

The  wrong  that  it  does  to  the  wretched  victims  is  almost  as  nothing  compared  to  the 
injury  it  does  to  the  lynchers  themselves,  to  the  community,  and  to  society  at  large. 

Lynching  is  a  contagious  social  disease,  and  as  such  is  of  deep  concern  to  every 
American  citizen  and  to  every  lover  of  civilization.  It  is  especially  of  concern  to  you,  and 
you  can  do  much  to  abolish  it.  Vice  and  crime  know  that  their  best,  though  unconscious 
and  unwilling  allies,  are  luke-warmness  and  timidity  on  the  part  of  educated,  "good"  citi 
zens.  Wrong  is  weaker  than  right,  and  must  yield  whenever  right  is  persistent  and 
determined. 

It  is,  of  course,  no  argument  in  favor  of  lynching,  nor  can  we  derive  any  legitimate 
satisfaction  from  the  fact  that  it  is  not  confined  to  any  one  section  of  our  country  and  that 
the  victims  are  not  always  black.  One  of  the  bad  features  of  lynching  is  that  it  quickly 
becomes  a  habit,  and,  like  all  bad  habits,  deepens  and  widens  rapidly.  Formerly  lynchings 
were  mainly  incited  by  rape  and  murder,  but  the  habit  has  spread  until  now  such  outrages 
are  committed  for  much  less  serious  crimes. 

The  records  of  lynching  for  1914,  compiled  by  three  different  agencies,  give  the  total 
number  for  the  year  as  52,  54,  and  74,  the  authority  for  these  figures  being  Tuskegee  Insti 
tute,  the  Chicago  Tribune,  and  the  Crisis,  respectively. 

The  conflicting  reports  can  not  be  harmonized,  but,  to  avoid  any  possibility  of  exag 
geration,  we  may  employ  the  most  conservative  of  these  for  analysis. 

It  reveals  these  facts  :  Number  lynched — colored  :  male  46,  female  3 ;  white :  male  3, 
female  0.  Total  52. 

Crimes  charged  against  victims:  Murder  13,  robbery  and  murder  6,  robbery  and 
attempted  murder  1,  suspected  of  murder  1,  rape  6,  attempted  rape  1,  killing  an  officer  5, 
wounding  officer  1,  murderous  assault  3,  alleged  murderous  assault  1,  biting  off  a  man's 
chin  1,  accused  of  wounding  a  person  1,  killing  person  in  quarrel  4,  beating  child  to  death  1, 
trying  to  force  way  into  woman's  room  1,  stealing  shoes  1,  stealing  mules  1,  setting  fire  to 
barn  2,  assisting  a  man  to  escape  who  had  wounded  another  1,  being  found  under  a  house  1. 

The  three  women  were  lynched  for  the  following  reasons:  One,  17  years  old,  for 
killing  a  man  who,  it  was  reported,  had  raped  her;  the  second  was  accused  of  beating  a 
child  to  death;  the  third  was  accused  of  helping  her  husband  set  fire  to  a  barn.  In  the 
last  case,  both  husband  and  wife  were  lynched  in  the  presence  of  their  4-year-old  child. 


46  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

It  should  be  especially  noted  that  of  the  fifty-two  persons  lynched,  only  seven — two 
white  and  five  colored — or  13  per  cent,  were  charged  with  the  crime  against  womanhood. 
This  shows  clearly  how  far  and  how  quickly  the  habit  has  spread  beyond  the  bounds  set  by 
those  who  first  resorted  to  lynching  as-  a  remedy. 

According  to  states,  the  lynchings  were  distributed  as  follows :  Alabama  2,  Arkansas  1, 
Florida  4,  Georgia  2,  Louisiana  12,  Mississippi  12,  Missouri  1,  New  Mexico  1,  North  Dakota 

1,  North  Carolina  1,  Oklahoma  3,  Oregon  1,  South  Carolina  4,  Tennessee  1,  Texas  6. 

The  same  agency  which  reported  fifty-two  lynchings  for  1914  makes  the  following 
report  for  1915:  Number  lynched — colored:  male  51,  female  3;  white:  male  14,  female  0. 
Total  68.  This  is  an  increase  of  16,  or  30  per  cent,  over  the  total  number  for  1914. 

According  to  states,  the  lynchings  for  1915  were  distributed  as  follows:  Alabama  9, 
Arkansas  5,  Florida  5,  Georgia  18,  Illinois  1,  Kentucky  5,  Louisiana  2,  Mississippi  9,  Missouri 

2,  Ohio  1,  Oklahoma  3,  South  Carolina  1,  Tennessee  2,  Texas  5. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  in  at  least  four  cases  it  later  was  discovered  that  the  victims 
of  the  mob  were  innocent  of  the  crime  of  which  they  were  accused. 

These  are  the  terrible  facts.  Is  there  no  remedy?  Have  we  not  sufficient  legal  intelli 
gence  and  machinery  to  take  care  of  every  case  of  crime  committed?  Must  we  fall  back 
on  the  methods  of  the  jungle?  Civilization  rests  on  obedience  to  law,  which  means  the 
substitution  of  reason  and  deliberation  for  impulse,  instinct,  and  passion.  It  is  easy  and 
tempting  to  obey  the  latter,  but  to  be  governed  by  the  former  requires  self-conrol,  which 
comes  from  the  interposition  of  thought  between  impulse  and  action.  Herein  lies  the  .college 
man's  opportunity  to  serve  his  fellows;  to  interpose  deliberation  between  their  impulses 
and  action,  and  in  that  way  to  control  both. 

Society  has  a  right  to  expect  college  men  to  help  in  moulding  opinion  and  shaping 
conduct  in  matters  of  this  sort.  It  is  their  privilege  and  duty  to  cooperate  with  others  in 
leading  crusades  against  crime  and  mob  rule  and  for  law  and  civilization.  The  college  man 
belongs  in  the  front  rank  of  those  fighting  for  moral  and  social  progress.  For  this  reason 
the  University  Commission  makes  its  first  appeal  to  you  and  urges  you  strongly  to  cooperate 
with  the  press,  the  pulpit,  the  bar,  officers  of  the  law,  and  all  other  agencies  striving  to 
eliminate  this  great  evil,  by  speaking  out  boldly  when  speech  is  needed  and  letting  your 
influence  be  felt  against  it  in  decided,  unmistakable  measure  and  manner. 

(Signed)     W.  S.  SUTTON,  Texas, 

JOSIAH  MORSE,  South  Carolina, 
W.  L.  KENNON,  Mississippi, 
W.  O.  SCROGGS,  Louisiana, 
JAMES  D.  HOSKINS,  Tennessee, 
R.  J.  H.  DELOACH,  Georgia, 
W.  M.  HUNLEY,  Virginia, 
E.  C.  BRANSON,  North  Carolina, 
JAMES  M.  FARR,  Florida, 
D.  Y.  THOMAS,  Arkansas, 
J.  J.  DOSTER,  Alabama. 
January  5,  1916. 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  47 

II 

EDUCATION 

In  its  first  open  letter  to  college  men  of  the  South,  issued  at  the  beginning  of  the 
present  year,  the  University  Commission  urged  them  to  unite  their  efforts  with  those  of  the 
press,  the  pulpit,  the  bar,  the  officers  of  the  law,  and  all  other  agencies  laboring  for  the  elimi 
nation  of  the  monster  evil  of  mob  violence.  These  agencies  have  labored  diligently  and  with 
substantial  results,  as  is  indicated  by  the  decrease  of  the  average  annual  number  of  lynch- 
ings  from  171  for  the  decade  1886-1895  to  70  for  the  decade  1906-1915.  Nevertheless,  the 
Commission  wishes  to  reiterate  its  appeal  with  renewed  emphasis,  knowing  that  the.  eradica 
tion  of  so  virulent  a  social  disease  as  the  lynching  mania  can  be  effected  only  by  the  pro 
longed  and  vigorous  efforts  of  sane  and  patriotic  citizens. 

In  this  letter  the  Commission  wishes  to  direct  the  attention  of  the  college  men  to  the 
educational  aspect  of  the  race  question,  inasmuch  as  the  solution  of  all  human  problems 
ultimately  rests  upon  rightly  directed  education.  In  its  last  analysis,  education  simply  means 
bringing  forth  all  the  native  capacities  of  the  individual  for  the  benefit  both  of  himself 
and  of  society.  It  is  axiomatic  that  a  developed  plant,  animal,  or  man  is  far  more  valuable 
to  society  than  the  undeveloped.  It  is  likewise  obvious  that  ignorance  is  the  most  fruitful 
source  of  human  ills.  Furthermore,  it  is  as  true  in  a  social  as  in  a  physical  sense  that  a 
chain  is  no  stronger  than  its  weakest  link.  The  good  results  thus  far  obtained,  as  shown 
by  the  Negro's  progress  within  recent  years,  prompt  the  Commission  to  urge  the  extension 
of  his  educational  opportunities. 

The  inadequate  provision  for  the  education  of  the  Negro  is  more  than  an  injustice  to 
him;  it  is  an  injury  to  the  white  man.  The  South  can  not  realize  its  destiny  if  one-third  of 
its  population  is  undeveloped  and  inefficient.  For  our  common  welfare  we  must  strive  to 
cure  disease  wherever  we  find  it,  strengthen  whatever  is  weak,  and  develop  all  that  is 
undeveloped.  The  initial  steps  for  increasing  the  efficiency  and  usefulness  of  the  Negro 
race  must  necessarily  be  taken  in  the  school  room.  There  can  be  no  denying  that  more 
and  better  schools,  with  better  trained  and  better  paid  teachers,  more  adequate  supervision 
and  longer  terms,  are  needed  for  the  blacks,  as  well  as  the  whites.  The  Negro  schools  are, 
of  course,  parts  of  the  school  systems  of  their  respective  states,  and  as  such  share  in  the 
progress  and  prosperity  of  their  state  systems.  Our  appeal  is  for  a  larger  share  for  the 
Negro,  on  the  ground  of  the  common  welfare  and  common  justice.  He  is  the  weakest  link 
in  our  civilization,  and  our  welfare  is  indissolubly  bound  up  with  his. 

Many  means  are  open  to  the  college  men  of  the  South  for  arousing  greater  public 
interest  in  this  matter  and  for  promoting  a  more  vigorous  public  effort  to  this  end.  A 
right  attitude  in  this,  as  in  all  other  important  public  questions,  is  a  condition  precedent  to 
success.  For  this  reason  the  Commission  addresses  to  Southern  college  men  this  special 

(Signed)     J.  J.  DOSTER,  Alabama, 

D.  Y.  THOMAS,  Arkansas, 
JAMES  M.  FARR,  Florida, 

R.  J.  H.  DELOACH,  Georgia, 
WILLIAM  O.  SCROGGS,  Louisiana, 
W.  L.  KENNON,  Mississippi, 

E.  C.  BRANSON,  North  Carolina, 
JOSIAH  MORSE,  South  Carolina, 
JAMES  D.  HOSKINS,  Tennessee, 
WILLIAM  S.  SUTTON,  Texas, 

September  1,  1916.  W.  M.  HUNLEY,  Virginia. 


48  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

III 
MIGRATION 

On  two  previous  occasions  the  University  Commission  on  Southern  Race  Questions 
addressed  open  letters  to  the  college  men  of  the  South,  setting  forth  briefly  the  results  of 
their  studies  and  conferences  on  topics  of  importance  to  both  races.  The  first  of  these  dealt 
with  the  lynching  evil,  and,  after  pointing  out  the  inherent  injustice  of  it  and  its  menace 
to  the  established  institutions  of  society,  emphasized  the  fact  that  human  actions  are  like 
boomerangs,  affecting  those  who  act  as  much  as,  if  not  more  than,  those  who  are  acted  upon. 
It  is  becoming  more  and  more  recognized  that  the  white  race  in  many  subtle  ways  has 
suffered  more  from  lynching  and  its  consequences  than  has  the  black. 

The  second  letter  dealt  with  the  education  of  the  Negro,  and  stressed  the  need  of 
larger  support,  better  teachers,  longer  terms,  and  more  adequate  facilities,  again  on  the 
ground  of  inherent  justice  of  the  proposal,  and  the  fact  that  in  doing  for  others  we  do 
even  more  for  ourselves. 

In  the  present  letter  the  Commission  wishes  to  address  the  college  men  on  what  it 
considers  the  most  immediate  pressing  problem  of  the  South,  and  one  of  the  most  important 
for  the  nation,  namely,  Negro  Migration.  The  present  migration  of  the  Negro  is  not  an 
anomalous  phenomenon  in  human  affairs.  The  economic  and  social  laws  that  affect  the 
lives  and  actions  of  white  men  produce  practically  the  same  effects  upon  the  Negro.  It 
should  not  be  surprising,  therefore,  to  find  him  obeying  so  promptly  and  in  such  large 
numbers  the  economic  law  of  demand  and  supply.  There  was  no  extensive  migration  until 
the  industrial  centers,  facing  a  dangerous  shortage  of  labor,  owing  to  the  complete  shutting 
off  of  the  European  sources  of  supply,  turned  to  the  South,  where  large  sources  were 
available.  And  so  they  sent  their  agents,  with  very  alluring  promises,'  and  liberally  used  the 
Negro  press,  hand-bills,  letters,  lecturers,  and  other  means  designed  quickly  to  uproot  the 
Negro  and  draw  him  to  the  railroads,  factories,  and  mines,  where  his  labor  is  sorely  needed. 
The  dollar  has  lured  the  Negro  to  the  East  and  North,  as  it  has  lured  the  white  man  even 
to  the  most  inaccessible  and  forbidding  regions  of  the  earth.  But  the  human  being  is 
moved  and  held  not  by  money  alone.  Birthplace,  home  ties,  family,  friends,  associations 
and  attachments  of  numerous  kinds,  fair  treatment,  opportunity  to  labor  and  enjoy  the 
legitimate  fruits  of  labor,  assurance  of  even-handed  justice  in  the  courts,  good  educational 
facilities,  sanitary  living  conditions,  tolerance,  and  sympathy — these  things,  and  others  like 
them,  make  an  even  stronger  appeal  to  the  human  mind  and  heart  than  does  money. 

The  South  can  not  compete  on  a  financial  basis  with  other  sections  of  the  country  for 
the  labor  of  the  Negro,  but  the  South  can  easily  keep  her  Negroes  against  all  allurements 
if  she  will  give  them  a  larger  measure  of  those  things  that  human  beings  hold  dearer  than 
material  goods.  Generosity  begets  gratitude,  and  gratitude  grips  and  holds  man  more 
powerfully  than  hooks  of  steel.  It  is  axiomatic  that  fair  dealing,  sympathy,  patience,  toler 
ance,  and  other  human  virtues  benefit  those  who  exercise  them  even  more  than  the 
beneficiaries  of  them.  It  pays  to  be  just  and  kind,  both  spiritually  and  materially.  Surely 
the  South  has  nothing  to  lose  and  much  to  gain  by  adopting  an  attitude  like  that  indicated 
above. 

(Signed)  E.  C.  BRANSON,  Professor  of  Rural  Economics  and  Sociology,  University 
of  North  Carolina. 

R.   P.   BROOKS,  Professor  of  History,  University  of  Georgia. 

JAS.  J.  DOSTER  (chairman),  Dean  of  the  School  of  Education,  and  Pro 
fessor  of  Education,  University  of  Alabama. 


A.  DAVID  C.  BARROW 

Chancellor  of  the  University  of 

Georgia 
c.   SAMUEL  C.  MITCHELL 

President  of  Delaware  College, 

formerly  of  the  University  of  South 

Carolina 

ADVISORY    COMMITTEE 


EDWIN  A.  ALDERMAN 

President  of  the  University  of  Virginia 
JAMES  II.  DILLARD 

President  of  the  Slater  and  Jeanes 

Boards,  formerly  Professor  in  Tulanc 

University,  New  Orleans 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  49 

JAMES  M.  FARR,  Professor  of  English,  University  of  Florida. 

JAMES  D.  HOSKINS,  Dean  of  the  University  of  Tennessee. 

W.  M.  HUNLEY  (secretary),  Professor  of  Economics  and  Political  Science, 

Virginia  Military  Institute. 

W.  L.  KENNON,  Professor  of  Physics,  University  of  Mississippi. 
JOSIAH    MORSE,    Professor   of    Psychology   and    Philosophy,   University   of 

South  Carolina. 
W.  O.   SCROGGS,   Professor  of  Economics  and  Sociology,  Louisiana   State 

University. 

W.  S.  SUTTON,  Dean  of  the  School  of  Education,  University  of  Texas. 
D.  Y.  THOMAS,  Professor  of  History  and  Political  Science,  University  of 

Arkansas. 

(B) 

WORK  OF  THE  COMMISSION  OF  SOUTHERN  UNIVERSITIES  ON  THE  RACE  QUESTION 

(Presented  at  the  Second  Meeting,  University  of  Georgia,  December  19,  1912,  by 
C.  H.  Brough,  Chairman) 

Thinking  that  this  Commission  could  do  no  better  than  follow  the  constructive  outline 
which  Dr.  Dillard  has  mapped  out,  I  invite  suggestions  along  the  following  lines: 

I.    What  are  the  conditions? 

(a)  Religious :    Contributions,  excessive  denominationalism,  lack  of  the  practical  in 

preaching,  etc. 

(b)  Educational :    Self-help,  Northern  contributions,  public  schools,  etc. 

(c)  Hygienic:    Whole  question  of  health  and  disease. 

(d)  Economic:    Land  ownership,  business  enterprises,  abuse  of  credit  system,  etc. 

(e)  Civic:    Common  carriers,  courts  of  justice,  franchise,  etc. 

II.    What  should,  and  can,  be  done,  especially  by  whites,  for  improvement? 
III.    Wrhat  may  be  hoped  as  to  future  conditions  and  relations? 

With  reference  to  the  religious  contributions  to  the  betterment  of  the  Negro,  it  may 
be  said  that  our  churches  have  been  pursuing  a  "penny-wise  and  pound-foolish  economy." 
The  Presbyterians  last  year  gave  an  average  of  three  postage  stamps  per  member  to  the 
work.  The  Methodists  averaged  less  than  the  price  of  a  cheap  soda  water — just  a  five-cent 
one.  The  Southern  Baptist  Convention  has  only  been  asking  from  its  large  membership 
$15,000  annually  for  this  tremendous  work.  In  view  of  these  conditions,  as  Southern 
churchmen  we  may  well  echo  the  passionately  eloquent  outburst  of  Dr.  W.  D.  Weatherford, 
one  of  the  most  profound  thinkers  and  virile  writers  on  the  Negro  question,  and  the  leader 
of  the  young  men  of  the  South  in  their  Y.  M.  C.  A.  work,  "Do  we  mean  to  say  by  our 
niggardly  gifts  that  these  people  are  helpless  and  worthless  in  the  sight  of  God?  Do  we 
mean  to  say  that  one  cent  per  member  is  doing  our  share  in  evangelizing  the  whole  race? 
God  pity  the  Southern  Christians,  the  Southern  churches,  and  the  Southern  States  if  we  do 
not  awake  to  our  responsibility  in  this  hour  of  opportunity." 

But  the  responsibility  for  deplorable  religious  conditions  among  the  Negroes  is  not 
altogether  with  the  whites.  While  it  is  true  that  the  Negro  is  by  nature  a  religious  and 
emotional  animal,  while  there  are  approximately  4,500,000  church  members  among  the 
10,000,000  Negroes  in  the  United  States,  and  these  churches  represent  property  values  of 


50  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

nearly  $40,000,000,  yet  it  is  also  painfully  true  that  excessive  denominationalism  and 
ecclesiastical  rivalry  and  dissensions  prevent  the  formation  of  strong,  compact  organizations 
among  them,  and,  as  a  result,  there  are  twice  as  many  church  organizations  as  there  should 
be,  congregations  are  small,  and  the  salaries  paid  their  preachers  are  not  large  enough  to 
secure  competent  men. 

In  connection  with  the  character  of  the  average  Negro  preacher,  it  is  interesting  to 
note  that  in  an  investigation  made  by  Atlanta  University  concerning  the  character  of  the 
Negro  ministry,  of  two  hundred  Negro  laymen  who  were  asked  their  opinion  of  the  moral 
character  of  Negro  preachers,  only  thirty-seven  gave  decided  answers  of  approval.  Among 
faults  mentioned  by  these  Negro  laymen  were  selfishness,  deceptiveness,  love  of  money, 
sexual  impurity,  dogmatism,  laziness,  and  ignorance,  and  to  these  may  be  added  the  fact 
that  preaching  is  generally  of  a  highly  emotional  type  and  is  wholly  lacking  in  any  practical 
moral  message.  At  the  April  meeting  of  the  Southern  Sociological  Congress  I  trust  that 
some  one  will  discuss  the  necessity  of  holding  up  before  the  Negroes  the  conception  of  the 
Perfect  Man  of  Galilee  of  unblemished  character  and  spotless  purity,  who  went  about  doing 
good,  as  well  as  the  conception  of  a  Saviour  of  power  and  a  Christ  of  divinity. 

Educationally,  the  Negroes  of  the  South  have  made  remarkable  progress.  In  1880, 
of  the  Negro  population  above  ten  years  of  age,  70  per  cent  was  illiterate.  By  the  end  of 
the  next  decade  this  illiteracy  had  been  reduced  to  57.1  per  cent,  and  by  the  close  of  the 
century  it  had  declined  to  44.5  per  cent.  During  the  last  ten  years  of  the  nineteenth  century 
there  was  an  increase  of  the  Negro  population  of  1,087,000  in  the  school  age  of  ten  years 
and  over,  yet,  despite  this  increase,  there  was  a  decrease  in  illiteracy  of  190,000.  In  1912 
there  are  over  2,000,000  between  the  ages  of  five  and  eighteen,  or  54  per  cent  of  the  total 
number  of  educable  Negro  children,  enrolled  in  the  common  schools  of  the  former  slave 
States,  and  the  percentage  of  illiteracy  among  the  Negroes  is  only  27.5  per  cent. 

In  the  State  of  Arkansas,  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1912,  109,731  Negro  children 
were  enrolled  in  the  common  schools  out  of  a  total  educable  Negro  population  of  175,503, 
and  the  percentage  of  illiteracy  among  the  Negroes  was  only  26.2  per  cent.  Besides  the 
Branch  Normal  at  Pine  Bluff,  maintained  by  the  State  at  an  annual  expense  of  $15,000 — an 
institution  which  has  graduated  236  Negro  men  and  women  in  the  thirty-eight  years  of  its 
useful  history — and  six  splendid  Negro  high  schools  at  Fort  Smith,  Helena,  Hot  Springs, 
Little  Rock,  and  Pine  Bluff,  there  are  six  denominational  high  schools  and  colleges  in 
Arkansas  that  are  giving  the  Negroes  an  academic  education  and  practical  instruction  in 
manual  training,  domestic  science,  practical  carpentry,  and  scientific  agriculture.  These 
facts  tell  the  story  of  praiseworthy  sacrifice,  frugality,  struggle,  and  aspiration. 

The  amount  devoted  to  Negro  education  in  the  South  for  the  forty  years  ending  with 
the  academic  session  1910-11  is  approximately  $166,000,000.  Of  this  amount  the  Negro  is 
beginning  to  pay  a  fair  proportion,  especially  in  North  Carolina  and  Virginia.  But  the 
Southern  white  people  have  borne  the  brunt  of  the  burden,  meriting  the  stately  eulogy  of 
the  late  lamented  commissioner  of  education,  William  T.  Harris,  that  "the  Southern  white 
people,  in  the  organization  and  management  of  systems  of  public  schools,  manifest  wonderful 
and  remarkable  self-sacrifice,"  and  also  the  tribute  of  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott,  editor  of  The 
Outlook,  "While  Northern  benevolence  has  spent  tens  of  thousands  in  the  South  to  educate 
the  Negroes,  Southern  patriotism  has  spent  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  for  the  same 
purpose.  This  has  been  done  voluntarily  and  without  aid  from  the  Federal  Government." 

The  South  as  a  whole  has  appreciated  the  truth  of  the  six  axioms  in  the  program  of 
Negro  education  so  admirably  set  forth  by  Dr.  W.  S.  Sutton,  of  the  University  of  Texas,  in 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  51 

a  recent  bulletin,  and  she  boldly  affirms  that  the  highest  welfare  of  the  "black  child  of 
Providence"  committed  to  her  keeping  lies  not  in  social  or  even  political  equality,  but  in 
equality  of  industrial  opportunity  and  educational  enlightenment. 

In  the  problem  of  Negro  education,  the  keystone  of  the  arch  is  the  rural  school, 
which  has  been  shamefully  neglected.  Dr.  Dillard,  by  his  wise  administration  of  the  Jeanes 
and  Slater  Funds,  has  rendered  an  invaluable  service  in  the  improvement  of  rural  Negro 
schools,  employing  at  the  present  time  117  supervisors  in  119  Southern  counties  at  an 
average  annual  salary  of  $301.38  to  competent  teachers  who  cooperate  with  the  county 
examiners  and  superintendents  in  the  supervision  of  Negro  schools.  The  question  has  been 
raised  by  Hon.  George  B.  Cook,  superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  in  Arkansas,  as  to 
whether  these  supervisors  and  the  funds  for  their  employment  should  not  be  placed  under 
the  immediate  control  of  the  State  Departments  of  Education  by  Dr.  Dillard,  and  I  respect 
fully  submit  this  as  a  fruitful  subject  for  discussion  by  this  Commission. 

Closely  allied  to  the  proper  solution  of  the  problem  of  Negro  education  are  the  prac 
tical  questions  of  better  hygienic  conditions  and  housing,  the  reduction  of  the  fearful 
mortality  rate  now  devastating  the  race,  and  the  prevention  of  disease.  At  the  present  the 
death  rate  of  the  Negroes  is  28  per  1,000  as  opposed  to  15  per  1,000  for  the  whites.  The 
chief  causes  of  this  excessive  death  rate  among  the  Negroes  seem  to  be  infant  mortality, 
scrofula,  venereal  troubles,  consumption,  and  intestinal  diseases.  According  to  Hoffman, 
over  50  per  cent  of  the  Negro  children  born  in  Richmond,  Va.,  die  before  they  are  one 
year  old.  This  is  due  primarily  to  sexual  immorality,  enfeebled  constitutions  of  parents, 
and  infant  starvation,  all  of  which  can  be  reduced  by  teaching  the  Negroes  the  elementary 
laws  of  health. 

The  highest  medical  authorities  agree  that  the  Negro  has  a  predisposition  to  con 
sumption,  due  to  his  small  chest  expansion  and  the  insignificant  weight  of  his  lungs  (only 
4  ounces),  and  this  theory  seems  to  be  borne  out  by  the  fact  that  the  excess  of  Negro 
deaths  over  whites  from  consumption  is  105  per  cent  in  the  representative  Southern  cities. 
But  however  strong  the  influence  of  heredity,  it  is  undeniable  that  consumption,  the  hook 
worm,  and  fevers  of  all  kinds  are  caused  in  a  large  measure  by  the  miserable  housing  con 
ditions  prevalent  among  the  Negroes.  Poor  housing,  back  alleys,  no  ventilation,  poor  ventila 
tion,  and  no  sunshine  do  much  to  foster  disease  of  all  kinds. 

Furthermore,  people  can  not  be  moral  as  long  as  they  are  herded  together  like  cattle, 
without  privacy  or  decency.  If  a  mother,  a  father,  three  grown  daughters,  and  men 
boarders  have  to  sleep  in  two  small  rooms,  as  is  frequently  the  case,  we  must  expect  lack 
of  modesty,  promiscuity,  illegitimacy,  and  sexual  diseases.  It  is  plainly  our  duty  to  preach 
the  gospel  of  hygienic  evangelism  to  our  unfortunate  "neighbors  in  black,"  for  the 
Ciceronian  maxim,  "Mens  sana  in  cor  pore  sano,"  is  fundamental  in  education.  Certainly 
he  who  is  instrumental  in  causing  the  Negro  to  build  two  and  three-room  houses  where 
only  a  one-room  shack  stood  before,  and  to  construct  one  sleeping  porch  where  none  was 
before,  deserves  more  at  the  hands  of  his  fellow-man  than  the  whole  race  of  demagogues 
put  together. 

Economic  progress  has  been  the  handmaid  of  educational  enlightenment  in  the 
improvement  of  the  Negro.  Indeed,  to  the  Negro  the  South  owes  a  debt  of  real  gratitude 
for  her  rapid  agricultural  growth,  and  in  no  less  degree  does  every  true  son  of  the  South 
owe  the  Negro  a  debt  of  gratitude  for  his  unselfishness,  his  faithfulness,  and  his  devotion 
to  the  white  people  of  Dixieland,  not  only  during  the  dark  and  bloody  days  of  the  Civil 
War,  but  during  the  trying  days  of  our  industrial  and  political  renaissance. 


52  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

To  the  Negro,  either  as  an  independent  owner,  tenant,  or  laborer,  we  partly  owe  the 
increase  in  the  number  of  our  farms  from  504,000  in  1860  to  over  2,000,000  at  the  present 
time;  the  increase  in  our  farm  values  from  $2,048,000  in  1860  to  $4,500,000  at  the  present 
time;  the  decrease  in  the  size  of  our  farm  unit  from  321  acres  in  1860  to  84  acres  at  the 
present  time. 

In  this  substantial  progress  of  our  glorious  Southland  the  Negro  has  had  a  distinct 
and  commendable  share.  It  has  been  estimated  by  workers  in  the  Census  Bureau  that  in 
1890  Negroes  were  cultivating,  either  as  owners,  tenants,  or  hired  laborers,  one  hundred 
million  acres  of  land,  and  at  the  present  time  the  estimated  value  of  property  owned  by 
Negroes  in  the  United  States  is  $750,000,000.  Of  the  214,678  farmers  in  Arkansas  in  1910, 
63,593,  or  almost  30  per  cent,  were  Negroes,  and  of  these  Negro  farmers  14,662,  or  23  per 
cent,  were  owners  and  48,885,  or  77  per  cent,  were  tenants.  In  the  United  States  as  a  whole, 
at  the  period  of  the  last  decennial  census,  there  were  2,143,176  Negroes  engaged  in  farming, 
1,324,160  in  domestic  and  personal  service,  275,149  in  manufacturing  and  mechanical  pur 
suits,  209,154  in  trade  and  transportation,  and  47,324  in  professional  service — a  remarkable 
showing  for  a  race  that  emerged  barely  three  centuries  ago  from  the  night  of  African 
darkness  and  depravity. 

However,  there  are  four  well-defined  retarding  forces  to  the  fullest  economic  develop 
ment  of  the  Negro  in  the  South,  and  to  these  evils  this  Commission  should  give  thoughtful 
and  earnest  consideration :  the  tenant  system,  the  one-crop  system,  .the  abuse  of  the  credit 
system,  and  rural  isolation.  I  believe  that  industrial  education,  teaching  the  Negro  the 
lessons  of  the  nobility  of  toil,  the  value  of  thrift  and  honesty,  the  advantages  attaching 
to  the  division  of  labor  and  the  diversification  of  industry,  and  the  dangers  lurking  in  the 
seductive  credit  system  will  prove  an  effective  panacea  for  these  self-evident  evils. 

Therefore,  as  a  Southern  man,  born,  raised,  and  educated  in  the  proud  commonwealth 
of  Mississippi,  I  welcome  the  splendid  efforts  of  such  men  as  Booker  T.  Washington,  of 
the  Tuskegee  Institute;  Major  Moton,  of  Hampton  Institute;  Joseph  Price,  of  Livingtone 
College,  North  Carolina ;  Charles  Banks  and  Isaia.h  Montgomery,  of  Mississippi ;  and 
Joseph  A.  Booker  and  E.  T.  Venegar,  of  Arkansas,  in  behalf  of  the  industrial  education 
of  their  race. 

As  the  sons  of  proud  Anglo-Saxon  sires,  we  of  the  South  doubt  seriously  the  wisdom 
of  the  enfranchisement  of  an  inferior  race.  We  believe  that  Reconstruction  Rule  was  "a 
reign  of  ignorance,  mongrelism,  and  depravity,"  that  the  Negro  is  the  cheapest  voter  and 
the  greatest  Bourbon  in  American  politics,  North  and  South  alike,  and  that  as  a  political 
factor  he  has  been  a  disturbing  factor  in  our  civic  life.  Personally,  I  believe  in  the 
Mississippi  educational  qualification  test  for  suffrage,  sanely  administered,  with  as  much 
ardor  as  in  a  literacy  test  for  foreign  immigration. 

However,  "a  condition  and  not  a  theory  confronts  us."  As  an  American  citizen  the 
Negro  is  entitled  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  and  the  equal  protection  of 
our  laws  for  the  safeguarding  of  these  inalienable  rights.  The  regulation  of  suffrage  in 
the  South,  as  well  as  in  the  North,  is  and  always  will  be  determined  by  the  principle  of 
expediency.  But  none  but  the  most  prejudiced  Negro-hater,  who  oftentimes  goes  to  the 
extreme  of  denying  that  any  black  man  can  have  a  white  soul,  would  controvert  the  propo 
sition  that  in  the  administration  of  quasi-public  utilities  and  courts  of  justice  the  Negro 
is  entitled  to  the  fair  and  equal  protection  of  the  law.  Separate  coach  laws  are  wise,  but 
discriminations  in  service  are  wrong. 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  53 

If  "law  hath  her  seat  in  the  bosom  of  God  and  her  voice  in  the  harmony  of  the 
world,  all  things  paying  obeisance  to  her,  the  greatest  as  not  exempt  from  her  power  and 
the  least  as  feeling  her  protecting  care,"  then  the  meanest  Negro  on  a  Southern  plantation 
is  entitled  to  the  same  consideration  in  the  administration  of  justice  as  the  proudest  scion 
of  a  cultured  Cavalier. 

It  is,  indeed,  a  travesty  on  Anglo-Saxon  jurisprudence  to  send  a  Negro  to  the  peni 
tentiary  for  a  term  of  eighteen  years  for  selling  a  gallon  of  whiskey  in  violation  of  law 
and  at  the  same  time  allow  scores  of  white  murderers  to  go  unpunished,  as  was  recently 
stated  to  be  a  fact  by  a  Governor  of  a  Southern  state.  Even  if  it  be  only  theoretically 
true  that  "all  people  are  created  free  and  equal/'  and  if,  as  a  practical  proposition,  the 
Negro  is  a  "ham  sandwich  for  the  Caucasian  race,"  it  is  undeniably  true  that  he  is  entitled 
to  the  equal  protection  of  our  laws  and  to  the  rights  safeguarding  every  American  citizen 
under  the  beneficent  provisions  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

If  I  may  use  the  eloquent  words  of  the  golden-tongued,  clear-visioned,  and  lion- 
hearted  Bishop  Charles  B.  Galloway,  "The  race  problem  is  no  question  for  small  politicians, 
but  for  broad-minded,  patriotic  statesmen.  I\  is  not  for  non-resident  theorists,  but  for 
clear-visioned  humanitarians.  All  our  dealings  with  the  Negro  should  be  in  the  spirit  of  the 
Man  of  Galilee." 

The  task  confronting  this  Commission,  composed  of  Southern  white  men  and  repre 
senting  the  universities  of  the  South,  is  Atlean  in  its  magnitude  and  fraught  with  tre 
mendous  significance.  I  believe  that  ours  is  a  noble  mission — that  of  discussing  the  ways 
and  means  of  bettering  the  religious,  educational,  hygienic,  economic,  and  civic  conditions 
of  an  inferior  race.  I  believe  that  by  protesting  against  the  miscegenation  of  the  races  we 
can  recognize  the  sacredness  of  the  individual  white  and  the  individual  Negro  and  do  much 
to  preserve  that  racial  integrity  recently  jeopardized  by  the  Johnson-Cameron  misalliance. 
I  believe  that  by  preaching  the  gospel  of  industrial  education  to  the  whites  and  Negroes 
alike  we  can  develop  a  stronger  consciousness  of  social  responsibility.  I  believe  that  by  the 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  in  the  Negro  are  to  be  found  the  essential  elements  of  human 
nature,  capable  of  conscious  evolution  through  education  and  economic  and  religious  better 
ment,  we  will  be  led  at  last  to  a  conception  of  a  world  unity,  whose  Author  and  Finisher 
is  God. 

(C) 

REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  ON  THE  CIVIC  STATUS  OF  THE  NEGRO 

(Presented  at  the  Fourth  Meeting,  Washington,  D.  C.,  December  15,  1914,  by  W.  O.  Scroggs, 

Chairman  of  the  Committee) 

The  Committee  on  the  Civic  Status  of  the  Negro,  appointed  at  the  meeting  of  the 
Commission  of  Southern  Universities  on  Race  Problems  held  in  Athens,  Ga.,  in  December, 
1912,  realized  at  the  outset  that  the  first  work  of  their  organization  was  "to  find  itself." 
Study,  investigation,  and  discussion  have  now  convinced  this  committee  that  the  one  great 
task  before  the  people  of  the  South  is  to  develop  a  more  rational  viewpoint  on  all  matters 
pertaining  to  interracial  relations.  Our  people  as  a  whole  feel  very  much  on  this  subject, 
but  they  know  very  little.  Most  of  the  discussion  of  the  problem  that  we  hear  is  merely 
an  airing  of  the  emotions.  But  few  of  our  citizens  are  familiar  with  the  actual  civic, 
economic,  educational,  hygienic,  or  religious  conditions  among  the  Negroes  of  their  own 
communities,  and  with  so  little  knowledge  at  hand  they  can  form  no  real  judgment  as  to 
the  public  policy  that  intelligent  citizens  should  advocate. 


54  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

Fortunately,  our  thinking  men  and  women  are  coming  to  realize  how  little  is  really 
known,  and  a  great  change  is  noticeable  in  their  attitude  toward  what  we  usually  call  "the 
race  problem."  In  the  past  there  was  a  tendency  on  their  part  to  leave  the  question  alone, 
and  there  was  a  belief,  or  at  least  a  frequently  expressed  hope,  that  the  problem  would 
eventually  solve  itself  if  only  discussion  and  agitation  were  not  allowed  to  disturb  the 
forces  of  racial  adjustment.  But  time  has  shown  that  discussion  and  agitation  will  not 
subside,  and  that  while  the  enlightened  citizenship  of  the  South  has  sat  in  silence  the  voice 
of  the  demagogue  has  been  heard  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  quaking 
with  the  assumed  fear  of  "Negro  domination,"  and  shouting  in  stentorian  tones  for  "Anglo- 
Saxon  supremacy."  Politicians  of  this  stripe  have  found  that  the  race  issue  possesses 
wonderful  possibilities  in  the  way  of  vote-getting,  and  they  have  not  scrupled  to  fan  the 
flames  of  race  prejudice,  even  to  the  extent  of  advocating  mob  violence,  if  this  seemed  an 
effective  means  of  riding  into  power. 

It  is  unnecessary  for  us  to  say  that  such  types  of  men  have  not  voiced  the  sentiment 
of  the  thinking  South.  Nevertheless,  they  have  reached  a  vastly  greater  audience  than  have 
those  who  entertain  enlightened  opinion  on  this  subject.  Where  one  man  has  read  a  book 
by  such  exponents  of  straight  thinking  on  Southern  problems  as  Stone,  Murphy,  Page, 
Weatherford,  or  Mrs.  Hammond,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  a  hundred  have  heard  or  read 
the  Negrophobic  diatribes  of  designing  office  seekers ;  and  while  the  latter  have  raged 
and  imagined  vain  things,  bench  and  bar,  preacher  and  teacher,  with  a  few  notable  excep 
tions,  have  sat  mute  and  lethargic,  and  by  their  silence  have  given  an  impression  of  probable 
acquiescence  in  such  views.  Of  the  views  of  earnest  students  on  this  vital  problem  the  man 
on  the  street  is  densely  ignorant,  and  who  can  blame  him? 

In  the  last  few  years,  however,  the  thinking  as  well  as  the  feeling  South  has  been 
making  itself  heard,  and  its  voice  has  been  growing  ever  louder  and  stronger.  The  social 
conscience  of  this  section  has  found  its  expression  in  the  Southern  Sociological  Congress, 
which  has  declared  for  "the  solving  of  the  race  problem  in  a  spirit  of  helpfulness  to  the 
Negro  and  of  equal  justice  to  both  races."  With  this  splendid  ideal  the  members  of  this 
Commission  are  in  hearty  sympathy.  This  does  not  mean,  of  course,  that  we  ourselves  are 
actually  to  undertake  to  solve  this  tremendous  social  question,  but  it  is  our  firm  conviction 
that  the  difficulties  are  enormously  increased  by  the  all-pervading  ignorance  to  which  we 
have  just  referred.  We  regard  it  as  our  function,  therefore,  to  turn  on  the  light  wherever 
we  may;  and  if  by  any  means  we  can  assist  in  supplying  knowledge  where  now  we  find 
only  blind  prejudice  and  ignorance,  we  believe  that  our  duty  will  have  been  performed. 

In  studying  the  civic  status  of  the  Negro  we  find  three  distinct  phases :  the  first  coin 
cides  with  the  period  of  slavery  and  lasts  till  1865 ;  the  second  corresponds  roughly  to  the 
Reconstruction  era  and  ends  with  the  judicial  annulment  of  the  Civil  Rights  Act  in  1883; 
the  last  period,  which  still  continues,  has  been  marked  by  a  general  undoing  of  Reconstruc 
tion  and  by  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  American  people  to  leave  the  civic  status  of  the 
colored  population  to  be  determined  by  the  slow  process  of  evolution. 

THE  Civic  STATUS  OF  THE  NEGRO  BEFORE  1865 

During  the  period  before  1865  slavery  was  the  normal  condition  of  the  vast  majority 
of  the  Negroes,  and  those  who  were  not  enslaved  suffered  serious  disabilities.  Even  in 
colonial  times  there  were  sporadic  outbreaks  of  mob  violence  against  persons  of  color, 
which  are  in  many  respects  analagous  to  the  race  riots  of  modern  times.  Two  examples 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  55 

often  cited  are  the  riots  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  1712  and  1741,  due  to  incendiarism  on 
the  part  of  slaves.  In  both  cases  numbers  of  Negroes  were  hanged,  burned  at  the  stake, 
and  otherwise  punished.  In  1788  the  Massachusetts  legislature  passed  a  law  providing  that 
"no  person  being  an  African  or  Negro,  other  than  a  subject  of  the  Emperor  of  Morocco 
or  a  citizen  of  some  one  of  the  United  States  (to  be  evidenced  by  a  certificate  from  the 
Secretary  of  the  State  of  which  he  is  a  citizen),  shall  tarry  within  this  Commonwealth  for 
a  longer  time  than  two  months."  *  This  law  was  never  enforced,  and  in  1822  a  legislative 
committee  declared  that  the  harsh  "Black  Laws"  of  other  states  were  driving  Negroes  into 
Massachusetts,  and  that  the  committee  viewed  with  alarm  "the  increase  of  a  species  of 
population  which  threatened  to  become  both  injurious  and  burdensome.2  A  Connecticut 
judge  in  1833  ruled  that  a  Negro  was  a  person  and  not  a  citizen.  In  1803  Ohio  required 
every  free  Negro  who  came  into  the  State  to  give  bond  in  the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars. 
Oregon  (1849),  Iowa  (1851),  Indiana  (1851),  and  Illinois  (1835)  forbade  free  Negroes  to 
come  within  their  borders,  and  Delaware  permitted  them  to  come  only  from  Maryland.  Ohio, 
Iowa,  and  Maryland  denied  Negroes  the  right  to  testify  in  cases  in  which  white  persons 
were  involved.  Before  the  Civil  War,  Negroes  were  excluded  from  the  militia  service. 
New  York  excluded  them  from  the  basis  of  State  (not  Federal)  representation  unless  they 
paid  taxes,  and  in  1838  forbade  colored  aliens  to  hold  real  estate.8 

Much  opposition,  not  only  to  mixed  schools,  but  also  to  separate  schools  for  colored 
pupils,  developed  at  various  places  in  the  North.  The  suppression  of  a  school  for  Negroes 
established  in  Canterbury,  Conn.,  in  1833  by  Miss  Prudence  Crandall  is  a  case  in  point. 
The  founder  of  the  school  was  sent  to  jail  for  violation  of  a  law  requiring  the  consent  of 
the  civil  authorities  for  the  establishment  of  such  an  institution,  and  when  the  verdict 
against  her  was  set  aside  on  technical  grounds  a  mob  attacked  and  damaged  the  school 
building  and  caused  the  abandonment  of  the  philanthropic  undertaking.4  In  New  York 
City,  until  the  Civil  War,  the  street  railway  companies  allowed  Negroes  equal  privileges 
with  whites  on  some  of  their  cars,  but  on  others  compelled  them  to  ride  on  the  front  plat 
form.  In  1855  a  colored  minister,  James  W.  C.  Pennington,  insisted  on  taking  a  seat  in 
a  car  not  designated  for  colored  persons  and  was  forcibly  ejected  by  a  conductor.  He  com 
plained  so  strenuously  to  a  policeman  that  the  officer  arrested  him  for  disorderly  conduct. 
He  brought  suit  against  the  company,  but  a  jury  declared  that  the  corporation  was  within 
its  rights  in  excluding  a  person  on  account  of  color.6 

The  incidents  thus  cited  might  be  multiplied  many  times  over,  but  they  will  suffice 
to  show  the  civic  status  of  the  Negro  in  the  North  before  the  War  between  the  States  made 
him  the  ward  of  the  nation.  In  the  Southern  States,  during  this  period,  the  position  of  free 
Negroes  was  likewise  unenviable.  Louisiana  did  not  permit  them  to  enter  the  State.  Vir 
ginia  (1850)  stipulated  that  they  must  leave  the  State  within  twelve  months  after  their 
emancipation  or  forfeit  their  freedom.  In  Maryland  any  free  Negro  leaving  the  State  for 
more  than  thirty  days  became  a  non-resident  and  subject  to  the  laws  excluding  Negroes. 
In  Missouri,  Negro  schools  and  religious  meetings  were  declared  to  be  unlawful  assemblies. 


1]ohn  Daniels,  In  Freedom's  Birthplace,  27. 

2  Ibid.,  28. 

8Wm.  Yates,  Rights  of  Coloured  Men,  pp.  yi,  vii;  B.  T.  Washington,  Story  of  the 
Negro,  I,  199;  G.  T.  Stephenson,  Race  Distinctions  in  American  Law,  36-39;  Trimble, 
Slavery  in  the  United  States  of  America  (London,  1863). 

4Wm.  Yates,  Rights  of  Coloured  Men,  54. 

5  New  York  Herald,  May  25,  1855,  and  December  20,  1856. 


56  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

The  problem  of  the  free  Negro,  with  which  the  Northern  States  especially  had 
wrestled  before  1865,  became  likewise  a  Southern  problem  after  the  emancipation  of  the 
slaves,  but  it  was  a  problem  magnified  a  hundredfold.  As  a  result,  a  crop  of  "Black  Laws" 
sprang  up  in  the  South  between  1865  and  1868  which  would  have  placed  the  former  slaves 
in  a  position  like  that  occupied  by  free  Negroes  in  both  the  Northern  and  Southern  States 
before  the  war.  These  laws  were  made  the  occasion  for  the  Federal  intervention  which 
made  the  Negro,  for  the  time  being,  an  object  of  special  Government  protection. 

Civic  STATUS  OF  THE  NEGRO,   1865-1883 

The  Thirteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  proclaimed  a 
part  of  the  organic  law  on  December  18,  1865,  destroyed  the  last  vestiges  of  chattel  slavery 
in  this  country  and  secured  for  every  Negro  the  status  of  a  free  man  but  not  the  status 
of  a  citizen.  The  dictum  of  the  Supreme  Court,  enunciated  eight  years  previously  in  the 
Dred  Scott  case,  had  been  to  the  effect  that  slaves  were  not  citizens  and  could  not  become 
citizens,  even  when  emancipated  or  descended  from  free  Negroes.  To  secure  to  the  freed- 
men  full  rights  of  citizenship,  the  Federal  Congress,  broadly  interpreting  its  power  to 
enforce  the  Thirteenth  Amendment  by  proper  legislation,  on  April  9,  1866,  passed  the 
so-called  first  Civil  Rights  bill  over  the  veto  of  President  Johnson.  This  measure  aimed 
directly  at  the  Dred  Scott  decision  by  declaring  that  "all  persons  born  in  the  United  States 
and  not  subject  to  any  foreign  power,  excluding  Indians  not  taxed,"  were  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  and,  as  such,  regardless  of  race,  color,  or  previous  conditions  of  servitude, 
they  were  entitled  "to  full  and  equal  benefit  of  all  laws  and  proceedings  for  the  security  of 
person  and  property,  as  is  enjoyed  by  white  citizens."  In  the  next  few  months  a  number 
of  cases  involving  the  constitutionality  of  this  measure  reached  the  lower  courts,  but  the 
adoption  of  the  Fourteenth  Amendment,  proclaimed  in  effect  on  July  28,  1868,  rendered  a 
decision  by  the  higher  courts  unnecessary.  This  amendment  incorporated  the  gist  of  the 
law  of  1866  into  the  Federal  Constitution  by  declaring :  "All  persons  born  or  naturalized 
in  the  United  States,  and  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  thereof,  are  citizens  of  the  United 
States  and  of  the  State  wherein  they  reside.  No  State  shall  make  or  enforce  any  law  which 
shall  abridge  the  privileges  or  immunities  of  citizens  of  the  United  States;  nor  shall  any 
State  deprive  any  person  of  life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  due  process  of  law,  or  deny 
to  any  person  within  its  jurisdiction  the  equal  protection  of  the  laws."  The  main  purpose 
of  this  amendment  was  undoubtedly  to  remove  all  question  as  to  the  constitutionality  of 
the  Civil  Rights  Act,  and  in  1870  this  last  measure  was  again  placed  upon  the  statute  books 
in  almost  its  original  form.  In  1875  a  second  Civil  Rights  law  was  enacted  which  prescribed 
full  and  equal  accommodations  for  all  citizens,  regardless  of  color,  in  hotels,  public  con 
veyances,  and  places  of  amusement,  and  prescribed  heavy  penalties  for  violations  of  the 
act. 

This  measure  marked  the  culmination  of  Federal  legislation  in  behalf  of  the  civil 
rights  of  the  black  man.  And  now,  four  decades  thereafter,  we  may  well  inquire  what 
benefits  have  been  obtained  from  it  by  the  Negro  race.  The  Fourteenth  Amendment,  which 
was  designed  solely  for  the  Negro's  protection,  has  been  employed  in  a  manner  far  removed 
from  the  intentions  of  its  authors.  The  litigation  that  has  arisen  under  it  has  been  con 
cerned  with  the  State  control  of  corporate  wealth  rather  than  with  racial  relations.  Accord 
ing  to  Mr.  Charles  W.  Collins,  by  1912  604  cases  involving  the  interpretation  of  this 
amendment  had  been  passed  upon  by  the  Supreme  Court,  and  of  these  only  twenty-eight 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  57 

had  any  connection  with  the  status  of  the  Negro.1  Even  before  a  case  directly  involving 
the  rights  of  colored  men  had  reached  the  Court  that  body  had  handed  down  a  decision  in 
the  Slaughter  House  Cases  which  indicated  that  the  Negroes'  gains  from  the  adoption  of 
the  Amendment  were  a  negligible  quantity.  These  cases  had  no  direct  bearing  on  the  race 
question,  but  the  Court,  in  interpreting  that  part  of  the  Amendment  which  declared  that 
"no  state  shall  make  or  enforce  any  law  which  shall  abridge  the  privileges  or  immunities 
of  citizens  of  the  United  States,"  held  that  Federal  citizenship  was  distinct  from  state 
citizenship,  and  that  the  Amendment  did  not  empower  the  Federal  Government  to  interfere 
with  the  privileges  and  immunities  inherent  in  State  citizenship.2  In  other  words,  the 
Amendment  was  intended  only  to  prevent  a  state  from  abridging  the  privileges  and  immuni 
ties  appertaining  to  Federal  citizenship,  and,  in  case  of  alleged  curtailment  of  his  rights  by 
private  acts  of  individuals,  the  citizen  should  appeal  to  the  police  power  of  his  State  and 
not  to  the  United  States. 

In  1875  the  first  case  in  which  the  rights  of  Negroes  under  the  Amendment  were 
directly  involved  came  before  the  Court.3  A  number  of  white  men  in  Louisiana  had 
forcibly  broken  up  a  Negro  political  meeting  and  had  been  tried  and  convicted  in  the 
United  States  Circuit  Court  for  violation  of  the  Act  of  1870.  The  Supreme  Court  set 
aside  the  conviction  on  the  ground  that  the  law  was  unauthorized  by  the  Fourteenth  Amend 
ment,  and  that  when  a  person's  rights  were  invaded  by  another  he  must  not  appeal  to  the 
Federal  Government  for  protection.  This  decision,  it  will  be  observed,  was  strictly  in 
accord  with  the  principles  enumerated  in  the  Slaughter  House  Cases. 

Finally,  in  1883  the  Civil  Rights  Act  of  1875,  which,  as  has  been  said  before,  marked 
the  culmination  of  the  special  favors  bestowed  upon  the  Negro  by  a  Radical  Congress,  was 
declared  unconstitutional  on  grounds  similar  to  those  enunciated  in  the  two  preceding  cases. 
This  decision  was  based  on  hearings  in  five  separate  cases  involving  the  Negro's  civil 
rights,  which  the  Court  considered  as  a  unit,  inasmuch  as  they  all  hinged  upon  the  constitu 
tionality  of  the  first  two  sections  of  the  Act  of  1875.  The  facts  upon  which  the  issues 
had  been  made  up  in  these  cases  were:  the  exclusion  of  Negroes  from  hotels  in  Kansas 
and  in  Missouri,  from  the  dress  circle  of  a  theater  in  San  Francisco,  from  full  enjoyment 
of  accommodations  in  the  Grand  Opera  House  of  New  York  City,  and  from  a  'ladies'  car" 
of  the  Memphis  and  Charleston  Railroad  Company.  The  Court  held  that  these  were  acts 
of  private  persons,  and  that  the  sections  of  the  Civil  Rights  Act  extending  Federal  protec 
tion  to  citizens  of  the  United  States  against  such  acts  were  not  authorized  by  the  Four 
teenth  Amendment,  which  did  not  empower  Congress  to  invade  and  destroy  the  police  power 
of  the  States. 

By  thus  setting  aside  the  Act  of  1875  the  Supreme  Court  virtually  served  notice  upon 
the  Negro  that  he  was  no  longer  "the  ward  of  the  nation,"  and  that  he  must  plunge  into 
the  stream  of  our  common  civic  life  and  sink  or  swim.  Indeed,  the  Court  expressly 
declared :  "When  a  man  has  emerged  from  slavery  and,  by  the  aid  of  beneficent  legislation, 
has  shaken  off  the  inseparable  concomitants  of  that  State,  there  must  be  some  stage  in  the 
progress  of  his  elevation  when  he  takes  the  rank  of  a  mere  citizen,  and  ceases  to  be  the 
special  favorite  of  the  laws,  and  when  his  rights  as  a  citizen  or  a  man  are  to  be  protected 
in  the  ordinary  modes  by  which  other  men's  rights  are  protected." 


1  Collins,  The  Fourteenth  Amendment  and  the  States,  46-47. 

2  Collins,  op.  cit,  48. 

8  U.  S.  vs.  Cruikshank,  92  U.  S.,  542. 


58  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

This  decision  put  an  end  to  direct  legislation  by  Congress  in  behalf  of  the  Negro 
race.  It  marks  the  close  of  the  regime  of  special  protection  and  the  beginning  of  a  regime 
of  natural  selection.  Of  the  twenty-eight  appeals  for  Federal  intervention  in  support  of  the 
Negto's  civil  rights,  as  alleged  to  be  guaranteed  under  the  Fourteenth  Amendment,  only 
six  were  decided  in  favor  of  the  complaining  party.  All  six  of  these  cases  dealt  with  the 
right  of  Negroes  to  sit  on  juries,  a  topic  that  will  be  considered  elsewhere  in  this  report. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Supreme  Court,  in  interpreting  the  Amendment,  has  held  that  a 
State  may  inflict  a  heavier  penalty  for  the  crimes  of  adultery  and  fornication  when  com 
mitted  by  persons  of  different  races  than  when  committed  by  persons  of  the  same  race; 
that  it  may  separate  the  races  on  passenger  trains;  and  that  in  general  the  Negro  must 
seek  his  protection  in  the  police  power  of  his  State,  like  any  other  citizen.  The  Court  has 
also  decided,  indirectly,  that  a  State  may  separate  the  races  in  the  schools  within  its 
jurisdiction.1 

As  a  result  of  the  overthrow  of  the  Civil  Rights  legislation  of  the  Federal  Government, 
the  burden  of  securing  these  rights  for  the  Negro  has  devolved  upon  the  several  States. 
So  long  as  the  Federal  Government  appeared  to  be  actively  intervening  in  behalf  of  the 
colored  man  the  States  of  the  North  did  very  little  in  the  matter.  On  the  other  hand,  in 
the  Southern  States,  which  were  then  under  the  control  of  carpet-bag  governments,  there 
was  a  bumper  crop  of  Civil  Rights  legislation.  After  1883,  however,  the  situation  had 
become  reversed.  Southern  legislatures  were  rapidly  repealing  the  distasteful  legislation  of 
the  Reconstruction  period,  and  Northern  legislatures,  seeing  that  Federal  intervention  had 
proven  a  broken  reed,  began  to  enact  measures  designed  to  secure  equal  accommodations  for 
both  races  in  all  public  places.  Many  of  the  State  laws  practically  duplicate  the  Federal 
statute  of  1875.  Nineteen  states  have  enacted  such  measures,  and  twelve  of  these  did  so 
within  two  years  after  the  Federal  law  was  declared  unconstitutional.2 

MUNICIPAL  SEGREGATION 

In  all  communities  where  diverse  elements  of  population  are  found  in  considerable 
numbers  there  is  a  noticeable  tendency  toward  their  differentiation  and  segregation.  Our 
American  cities  have  their  Italian  quarters,  their  Yiddish  districts,  and  their  China  towns. 
The  same  phenomenon  is  observed  wherever  there  is  a  large  number  of  Negroes.  In  both 
Northern  and  Southern  communities  there  are  considerable  areas  inhabited  almost  exclu 
sively  by  members  of  the  colored  race.  This  voluntary  segregation  is  generally  accepted 
as  a  matter  of  course  by  members  of  both  races,  because  it  accords  with  their  wishes.  "All 
flesh  consorteth  according  to  kind,  and  a  man  will  cleave  unto  his  like." 

Inasmuch  as  the  color  line  runs  nearly  parallel  with  the  poverty  line,  living  conditions 
in  the  Negro  quarters  of  our  cities  closely  resemble  those  of  the  slums.  North  and  South 
the  urban  Negro  population  is  to  be  found  living  in  poorly  built,  insanitary  dwellings,  on 
filthy  and  neglected  streets,  and  frequently  in  an  atmosphere  permeated  with  vice.  It  is 
quite  natural  that  certain  more  prosperous  members  of  the  race  should  seek  to  escape  from 
such  untoward  conditions  and  secure  homes  in  more  desirable  sections.  In  doing  this  they 
are  not  necessarily  seeking  to  force  themselves  upon  their  white  neighbors,  but  may  be 
attracted  by  the  clean  and  well-paved  streets,  the  well-kept  homes,  and  the  more  generally 
wholesome  environment.  The  Negroes  as  a  race  are  not  any  more  inclined  than  are  the 


1  Collins,  op.  cit.,  48-80. 

2Stephenson,  Race  Distinctions  in  American  Law,  111-124. 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  59 

whites  to  force  themselves  into  places  where  they  are  not  wanted,  and  even  where  individual 
colored  citizens  show  any  such  tendency  to  intrude  it  will  frequently  be  found  that  white 
sympathizers  are  egging  them  on.  But  it  matters  not  for  what  reason  a  Negro  may  enter 
a  white  residence  district,  he  is  likely  soon  to  discover  that  his  arrival  is  most  unwelcome  to 
his  new  neighbors.  In  all  parts  of  the  country  many  and  varied  expedients  have  been 
employed  to  exclude  the  colored  population  from  certain  portions  of  our  cities.  In  Kansas 
City,  in  1909,  the  Tenth  Ward  Citizens'  Association  was  formed  for  the  purpose  of  forcing 
the  removal  of  Negroes  from  a  section  of  the  tenth  ward.1  In  the  same  city,  in  1910  and 
1911,  a  number  of  Negro  homes  in  a  white  residential  section  were  dynamited.2  In  North 
Berkeley,  Cal.,  the  citizens  organized  to  exclude  Chinese,  Japanese,  and  Negroes  -from  the 
best  residence  districts.3  In  St.  Louis  a  Civic  Realty  Company  was  formed  for  the  purpose 
of  creating  public  sentiment  against  the  selling  of  property  to  Negroes.4  In  Atlanta,  in  1910, 
fifty  real  estate  dealers  agreed  to  lease  or  sell  no  property  to  Negroes  within  the  limits  of 
a  district  designated  as  white  by  a  so-called  Fourth  Ward  Progressive  Club.5  During  the 
year  1911  trouble  resulting  from  the  purchase  by  Negroes  of  property  in  white  residential 
sections  was  reported  in  Scranton,  Pa.,  Kalamazoo,  Mich.,  Logansport,  Ind.,  and  Seattle, 
Wash.9 

The  invasion  of  exclusively  white  blocks  by  ambitious,  well-to-do  Negroes  is  most 
likely  to  occur  in  cities  which  have  a  relatively  small  colored  population  and  in  which  the 
Negroes  have  become  accustomed  to  assert  themselves  more  frequently  than  they  do  where 
the  color  line  is  drawn  less  loosely.  This  fact  will  explain  why  such  a  large  proportion  of 
the  incidents  just  enumerated  occurred  in  Northern  rather  than  Southern  cities.  It  is  inter 
esting  to  note,  however,  that  in  many  Southern  communities  the  segregation  of  the  races 
is  by  no  means  complete.  It  is  not  a  very  rare  sight  in  some  of  the  older  towns  of  the 
lower  South  to  find  one  or  two  unobtrusive  Negro  families  living  in  the  same  block  with 
the  better  class  of  whites.  Such  cases  are  no  indication  of  the  lack  of  racial  antipathy;  the 
whites  merely  tolerate  the  presence  of  the  Negroes  because  the  latter  "know  their  place" 
and  make  no  attempt  to  force  themselves  upon  the  attention  of  their  neighbors.  Instances 
of  this  kind  are  seldom  observed  in  the  newer  towns,  and  are  growing  continually  less 
common  elsewhere,  as  both  races  seem  to  prefer  to  live  apart. 

In  addition  to  this  general  segregation,  there  are  a  number  of  instances  of  the  com 
plete  exclusion  of  Negroes  from  white  communities  and  of  whites  from  Negro  communities. 
Among  the  towns  which  do  not  tolerate  the  presence  of  the  colored  man  may  be  mentioned 
Comanche,  Big  Spring,  Childress,  Dalhart,  Plainview,  and  Snyder,  in  the  State  of  Texas ; 
Blackwell,  Hominy,  Miami,  Norman,  and  Elk  City,  Oklahoma;  Cullman  (a  German  settle 
ment),  and  Fairhope  (a  colony  of  Northern  single-taxers),  in  the  State  of  Alabama;  and 
Syracuse,  in  Ohio.  Winston  County,  Alabama,  with  a  total  population,  in  1910,  of  12,885, 
contained  only  54  Negroes. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  some  thirty  towns  inhabited  exclusively  by  Negroes,  and 
also  a  large  number  of  unincorporated  Negro  settlements.  The  most  important  of  these 


1The  Crisis,  2:98. 
2  Ibid.,  3:161-162. 
8  Ibid.,  2 :98. 

4  Ibid.,  1 :6-7. 

5  The  city  of  Atlanta  later  passed  an  ordinance  providing  for  the  segregation  of  the 
races.     Vide  infra. 

6  The  Crisis,  February,  May,  and  July,  1911. 


60  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

Negro  communities  is  Boley,  Okla.,  with  a  population,  in  1910,  of  1,334.  This  town  owns 
and  operates  its  own  waterworks  system,  and  has  an  electric  light  plant  which  is  also  owned 
and  operated  by  Negroes. 

All  these  instances  of  racial  segregation  have  been  secured  without  formal  legislative 
action.  In  recent  years,  however,  a  tendency  has  developed  on  the  part  of  a  number  of 
Southern  municipalities  to  enforce  the  separation  of  the  races  into  different  residence  dis 
tricts  by  law.  This  movement  is  receiving  increasing  attention,  and  has  already  made  some 
headway.  If  the  experience  of  the  cities  which  are  testing  this  plan  seems  to  justify  it,  and 
no  constitutional  obstacles  are  encountered,  a  very  large  number  of  other  municipalities 
may  be  expected  to  employ  some  similar  expedient. 

The  legal  segregation  of  the  races  in  municipalities  had  its  beginning  in  1910.  In  that 
year  the  purchase  of  property  by  a  Negro  lawyer  on  McCulloch  Street,  a  fashionable  resi 
dence  section  of  Baltimore,  brought  the  matter  to  an  issue  in  that  city  and  resulted  in  the 
enactment,  on  December  19,  of  the  so-called  West  segregation  ordinance.1  This  measure 
provided  that  no  white  family  should  move  into  a  block  where  a  majority  of  the  residents 
were  Negroes,  and  that  no  Negro  should  occupy  a  residence  in  a  block  where  a  majority 
of  the  residents  were  white.  The  ordinace  was  at  once  tested  in  the  courts,  and,  on 
February  4,  1911,  was  declared  invalid.  A  second  ordinance  was  then  passed  to  meet  the 
objections  of  the  courts.  This  applied  only  to  all-white  and  all-Negro  blocks,  and  allowed 
blocks  in  which  members  of  both  races  were  residing  to  remain  mixed  until  the  residents 
came  to  belong  wholly  to  one  race.  Some  question  as  to  the  regularity  of  the  passage  of 
this  measure  was  raised,  and  it  was  reenacted  without  change  of  phraseology.  This  measure, 
like  the  first,  also  encountered  judicial  obstacles  and  was  held  invalid  by  the  Court  of 
Appeals  on  the  ground  that  it  did  not  protect  vested  rights.  Nothing  daunted,  the  city 
council  passed  a  fourth  segregation  ordinance  on  December  25,  1913. 

The  example  of  Baltimore  was  quickly  followed  by  the  cities  of  Richmond,  Norfolk, 
and  Ashland,  Virginia.  The  Richmond  ordinance,  enacted  April  19,  1911,  declares  a  block 
white  when  a  majority  of  its  residents  are  white,  and  colored  when  a  majority  of  residents 
are  colored.  On  March  12,  1912,  the  Virginia  legislature  passed  a  general  State  law  per 
mitting  municipalities  so  desiring  to  designate  certain  sections  of  their  area  for  white  and 
other  sections  for  colored  residents.  In  accordance  with  this  statute,  legal  segregation  was 
effected  in  Roanoke,  Va.,  on  March  15,  1913. 

Other  cities  which  have  adopted  segregation  ordinances  are  Greenville  and  Anderson, 
South  Carolina;  Greensboro  and  Winston-Salem,  North  Carolina;  and  Atlanta,  Ga.  The 
matter  has  been  discussed  in  a  number  of  other  municipalities.  The  Atlanta  ordinance,  like 
that  of  Baltimore,  does  not  apply  to  mixed  districts,  but  only  to  blocks  occupied  wholly  by 
members  of  one  race.  In  Greenville,  however,  the  ordinance  applies  when  two-thirds  of 
the  residents  are  of  the  same  race.  In  Norfolk  the  designation  of  the  color  of  a  block 
depends  upon  ownership,  as  well  as  occupancy.  The  block  is  black  or  white  according  as 
a  majority  of  the  frontage  is  owned  or  occupied  by  blacks  or  whites,  respectively.  To 
avoid  constitutional  difficulties,  the  law  of  Virginia  and  the  ordinances  of  Richmond,  Balti 
more,  Norfolk,  and  Atlanta  provide  that  no  person  shall  be  required  to  remove  from  the 
place  where  he  was  residing  when  the  measure  was  passed.  By  several  of  these  ordinances 
schools,  churches,  and  other  buildings  are  segregated,  as  well  as  residences. 


JThe  measure  was  named  after  Councilman  George  W.  West,  who  fathered  it. 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  61 

The  constitutionality  of  these  various  ordinances  has  not  yet  been  definitely  passed 
upon.  The  first  and  third  Baltimore  ordinances  were  declared  invalid  because  they  inter 
fered  with  vested  rights,  but  the  courts  upheld  the  constitutionality  of  the  principle  of  segre 
gation.  The  ordinance  of  Winston-Salem  was  deemed  invalid  by  the  Supreme  Court  of 
North  Carolina  on  the  ground  that  a  municipality  could  not  enact  such  a  measure  without 
first  obtaining  legislative  sanction  therefor,  but  the  real  question  at  issue  was  not  passed 
upon. 

It  is  needless  to  discuss  the  constitutional  aspects  of  this  measure;  for,  as 
Mr.  Gilbert  T.  Stephenson  has  well  said,  some  constitutional  method  may  always  be  found 
for  the  adoption  of  any  policy  that  is  wise  and  sound.  Segregation,  therefore,  should  be 
considered  from  the  viewpoint  of  social  justice.  Advocates  of  municipal  segregation  by 
law  defend  it  on  racial,  social,  and  economic  grounds.  The  elimination  of  mixed  blocks 
is  desirable,  it  is  said,  because  in  them  is  found  only  the  lowest  element  of  the  white 
population,  and  it  is  from  such  a  grouping  that  miscegenation  is  most  likely  to  arise.  In 
the  second  place,  racial  antipathies  are  greatest  between  Negroes  and  the  poorer  whites, 
and  the  separation  of  these  elements  will  promote  law  and  order  and  reduce  social  friction 
to  a  minimum.  Again,  segregation  is  held  to  be  desirable  for  economic  reasons ;  whenever 
Negroes  move  into  a  community  real  estate  values  tend  to  depreciate.  Finally,  it  is  argued, 
segregation  has  been  developing  by  informal  social  action  during  a  period  of  many  years, 
and  formal  action  by  statute  or  ordinance  only  completes  the  process. 

The  opponents  of  segregation  do  not  deny  that  the  presence  of  a  Negro  family  in 
a  city  block  tends  to  depress  property  values  in  their  neighborhood,  but  they  urge  that  the 
upward  progress  of  a  race  should  not  be  made  to  "depend  on  the  price  of  land."  It  is 
claimed,  also,  that  the  segregated  Negro  quarters  will  be  neglected  by  the  municipal 
authorities  so  far  as  lighting,  paving,  drainage,  sewerage,  street  cleaning,  garbage  collection, 
and  policing  are  concerned,  and  that  the  Negroes  will  be  restricted  by  law  to  living  in  the 
most  undesirable  parts  of  the  city.  The  results  of  segregation  in  several  cities  are  cited 
as  already  proving  this  contention.  It  is  worthy  of  note,  too,  that  when  segregation  was 
being  discussed  in  Richmond  a  number  of  prominent  white  women  appeared  before  the  city 
council  and  urged  that  if  the  measure  were  enacted  the  needs  of  the  Negroes  should  no 
longer  be  neglected. 

RACIAL  SEGREGATION  IN  RURAL  DISTRICTS 

Until  1913,  efforts  to  create  separate  residence  districts  for  the  races  by  law  were 
confined  to  cities.  In  August  of  that  year  Mr.  Clarence  Poe,  editor  of  the  Progressive 
Farmer,  formally  advocated  a  plan  for  racial  segregation  in  rural  districts.  He  secured  for 
it  the  unanimous  endorsement  of  the  North  Carolina  State  Farmers'  Union,  and  urged  upon 
the  North  Carolina  legislature  the  enactment  of  his  plan  into  law.  The  author  of  the  scheme 
summarizes  it  as  follows:  "Wherever  the  greater  part  of  the  land  acreage  in  any  given 
district  that  may  be  laid  off  is  owned  by  one  race,  a  majority  of  the  voters  in  such  a  district 
shall  have  the  right  to  say,  if  they  wish,  that  in  the  future  no  land  shall  be  sold  to  a  person 
of  a  different  race,  provided  such  action  is  approved  or  allowed  (as  being  justified  by  con 
siderations  of  peace,  protection,  and  social  life  of  the  community)  by  a  reviewing  judge  or 
board  of  county  commissioners." 

An  examination  of  this  proposed  measure  will  show  that  whatever  may  have  been 
the  intention  of  its  framer,  it  will  not  in  actual  practice  secure  the  complete  segregation  of 
the  races  in  rural  communities.  Negroes  owning  land  at  the  time  the  measure  went  into 


62  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

effect  would  not  be  affected,  and  colored  laborers  and  tenants  might  still  remain  in  the 
districts  adopting  the  plan.  Mr.  Poe's  plan  is  simply  a  scheme  to  enable  the  voters  in 
any  district  to  put  an  end  to  the  sale  of  lands  to  Negroes.  As  very  few  Negroes  vote, 
it  would  be  impossible  for  them  to  exclude  whites  from  any  community,  even  if  they  out 
numbered  the  whites  ten  to  one  and  owned  the  greater  portion  of  the  land. 

The  author  of  this  plan  advances  eight  reasons  for  its  adoption:  (1)  Rural  segrega 
tion  is  necessary  to  give  white  farmers  and  their  families  a  satisfying  social  life;  (2)  it 
will  insure  them  greater  safety  and  protection;  (3)  it  will  secure  better  schools,  churches, 
and  other  agencies  of  community  welfare  for  both  races ;  (4)  it  will  make  possible  a  greater 
degree  of  cooperation  in  rural  communities,  as  racial  divisions  have  proven  a  great  barrier 
to  cooperative  enterprises;  (5)  it  will  improve  the  moral  side  of  racial  relationships; 
(6)  by  checking  the  crowding  out  of  whites  by  blacks  and  providing  all-white  communities 
it  will  attract  to  the  South  a  larger  proportion  of  immigrants  from  other  sections  and 
countries  than  this  region  now  receives;  (7)  segregation  will  make  it  possible  for  young 
men,  who  will  not  at  present  compete  with  negro  labor,  to  go  into  the  white  districts  as 
tenants,  save  and  become  independent  landholders ;  (8)  it  will  protect  certain  rural  districts 
from  absentee  landlords,  who  sell  lands  to  Negroes  regardless  of  the  feelings  of  the  white 
residents. 

Every  one  familiar  with  conditions  in  the  rural  South  will  admit  the  existence  of  most 
of  the  evils  of  which  Mr.  Poe  complains,  but  it  does  not  follow  therefrom  that  his  plan 
offers  a  remedy.  That  there  is  an  unmistakable  tendency  for  the  black  counties  to  grow 
blacker  is  fully  attested  by  the  Federal  census.  This  crowding  of  the  whites  by  the  blacks 
may  not  be  attributed  to  the  greater  efficiency  of  the  latter,  as  it  has  been  clearly  shown 
that  the  progress  of  the  Negroes  in  the  South  varies  almost  inversely  with  their  numerical 
ratio  to  the  whole  population.1  The  Negroes  are  most  backward  where  they  greatly  out 
number  the  whites,  and  they  crowd  out  the  whites  in  these  communities  just  as  unskilled 
laborers  with  low  standards  of  living  tend  to  crowd  out  the  more  highly  skilled  workmen 
in  industrial  centers,  and  as  Mongolian  laborers  have  tended  to  crowd  out  Caucasians  in 
our  Pacific  States.  The  principle  of  Gresham's  law  seems  operative  in  the  case  of  labor, 
as  well  as  in  that  of  money. 

But  to  admit  these  facts  as  stated  by  Mr.  Poe  is  to  cut  the  ground  from  under  his 
argument  for  segregation.  If  the  whites  suffer  from  the  presence  of  masses  of  unskilled, 
low-standard  colored  labor  the  obvious  remedy  is  to  take  measures  for  increasing  its  skill 
and  raising  its  standards.  Segregation,  instead  of  achieving  this  result,  will  work  in  the 
opposite  direction,  as  experience  fully  proves  that  black  districts  tend  to  retrograde.  The 
Negroes  do  best  in  those  communities  where  they  are  outnumbered  by  the  whites.  If  segre 
gation  were  in  effect  in  any  Southern  community  the  most  thrifty  and  industrious  Negroes, 
desiring  to  acquire  land,  would  be  compelled  to  move  elsewhere,  leaving  behind  them  the 
shiftless  and  inefficient  of  their  race;  and  the  last  state  of  that  community  would  be  worse 
than  the  first. 

Mr.  Stephenson  has  pointed  out  that  the  removal  of  the  incentive  on  the  part  of  a 
Negro  tenant  to  acquire  land  of  his  own  would  tend  to  aggravate  the  already  acute  tenant 
problem;  that  efforts  to  bring  about  segregation  in  any  rural  district  would  intensify  race 
friction ;  and  that  after  separation  was  achieved  only  the  worst  elements  of  both  races  would 


1  On  this  point  consult  the  article  by  Dr.  R.  P.  Brooks  entitled,  "A  Local  Study  of  the 
Race  Problem,"  in  the  Political  Science  Quarterly,  26:201  f. 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  63 

be  brought  into  contact  with  each  other.1  To  these  objections  we  might  add  the  statement 
that  if  segregation  in  municipalities  is  likely  to  result  in  the  neglect  of  the  colored  residence 
sections  the  same  results  would  appear,  and  probably  in  much  more  aggravated  form,  in 
rural  districts.  Solidly  black  rural  communities  would  hardly  secure  roads,  bridges,  schools, 
policing,  and  sanitary  supervision  of  the  same  character  as  found  in  white  communities  in 
the  same  county.  Morever,  as  the  Negroes  must  take  the  least  desirable  sections  of  cities 
for  their  quarters,  they  would  probably  have  to  do  likewise  if  they  were  segregated  in  the 
country;  and  each  colored  district  might  show  a  tendency  to  become  a  little  bit  of  "darkest 
Africa,"  with  deleterious  results  to  both  races. 

The  principle  of  segregation  in  municipalities  and  in  rural  districts  rests  on  an  entirely 
different  basis  from  that  of  racial  segregation  on  railway  trains  and  public  places.  In  the 
latter  case  only  personal  rights  are  involved;  in  the  former  both  rights  of  person  and 
property.  Moreover,  where  the  races  are  separated  in  conveyances  and  public  places,  it  is 
possible  to  give  absolutely  equal  accommodations.  In  the  case  of  municipal  and  rural 
segregation  physical  limitations  make  this  obviously  impossible. 


REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  ON  ECONOMICS 

(Presented  at  the  Fifth  Meeting,  Tuskegee  Institute,  May  6,  1915,  by  R.  J.  H.  DeLoach, 

Chairman  of  the  Committee) 

The  chairman  of  this  committee  wishes  to  express  regrets  that  he  could  not  have  had 
more  constant  contact  with  the  members  of  the  Commission,  and  especially  of  the  Com 
mittee  on  Economics.  It  seems  that  a  meeting  together  of  the  members  of  the  committee 
would  have  brought  out  many  ideas  of  practical  value  to  its  work.  Correspondence  is  not 
satisfactory  in  matters  of  this  kind.  However,  since  we  have  had  no  meeting,  we  shall 
render  separate  reports  as  best  we  can,  in  the  hope  that  something  we  have  done  may  prove 
of  value  to  the  future  workers  and  of  interest  to  those  thinking  along  these  lines. 

The  one  theme  that  has  been  running  through  my  mind  is  "The  Basis  of  Efficiency," 
or  the  effect  on  the  Negro  race  of  some  kind  of  definite  training.  I  have  wondered  how 
much  justice  there  is  in  the  statement,  "Education  spoils  the  Negro,"  or  "The  Negro  will 
not  stand  education." 

After  all,  the  basis  of  progress  is  a  question  of  education  and  its  relation  to  our 
industrial  life.  There  is  more  in  knowing  how  to  do  a  thing  and  then  doing  it  than  there 
is  in  knowing  per  se.  If  we  can  put  this  kind  of  a  test  to  the  Negro  race,  it  seems  that 
justice  to  ourselves  as  a  race,  as  well  as  to  the  Negro  himself,  would  cause  us  to  issue  an 
impartial  statement  of  our  investigations  along  this  line.  To  make  an  investigation  valuable, 
the  investigator  must  set  aside  in  the  beginning  any  preconceived  idea  or  sentiment  that 
would  tend  to  qualify  his  conclusions.  Let  the  truth  stand  for  itself.  That  certain  kinds 
of  training  have  seemed  to  prove  ineffective  in  certain  specific  instances  when  applied  to 
the  Negro  does  not  argue  that  all  will  fail  under  even  any  set  of  conditions.  Perhaps  the 
safety  of  the  South,  the  conservation  of  her  great  natural  resources,  will  depend  on  the 
training  of  her  citizens  for  service.  If  so,  it  will  hardly  prove  economical  to  restrict  the 
training  to  any  class  or  race.  If  better  service  can  be  rendered  by  training  in  any  case,  it 
ought  to  be  so  in  every  case,  and  it  is  to  this  phase  of  the  race  question  that  I  have  been 
devoting  time  and  study. 


1  South  Atlantic  Quarterly,  13:107-117. 


64  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

What  are  the  ordinary  tests  of  fitness  for  service?  Perhaps  the  most  effective  one 
is  the  fruits  of  trained  servants.  If  these  measure  up  to  a  high  standard,  the  training  has 
not  been  in  vain.  If  efficiency  proves  to  be  in  proportion  to  training,  then  it  seems  to  me 
that  we  should  be  much  concerned  about  the  training  itself. 

The  three  kinds  of  measurements  that  I  have  used  among  Negroes  are  as  follows : 
Actual  increase  in  yields  of  farm  crops  as  a  result  of  definite  kinds  of  instruction,  the 
results  of  club  work  among  Negroes,  and  the  relation  of  savings  to  citizenship. 

There  may  be  other  phases  of  the  subject  more  important  than  these,  but  I  have  the 
facts  to  prove  beyond  a  doubt  that  these  are  important.  There  are  so  many  phases  of  any 
important  question  that  the  nature  of  an  investigation  of  it  must  depend  largely  on  the 
individual  who  undertakes  it.  It  is  a  matter  of  taste  and  judgment  as  to  just  how  one 
tackles  the  problem. 

Granting,  then,  that  my  own  study  of  this  question  has  been  guided  very  largely  by 
the  problem  as  I  see  it,  I  turn  now  to  a  report  on  the  facts  that  have  come  under  my 
observation. 

THE  EFFECTS  OF  DEFINITE  INSTRUCTION  ON  THE  INCREASED  YIELD  IN  FARM   CROPS 

I  have  brought  to  the  attention  of  this  Commission  before  now  my  connection  with  a 
Farmers'  Conference  in  Athens,  Ga.,  composed  entirely  of  Negro  farmers,  landowners, 
tenants,  and  day  hands.  There  seemed  to  be  no  difference,  when  it  came  to  interest,  whether 
a  man  was  a  tenant  or  a  landowner.  At  this  conference,  which  was  organized  several 
years  ago,  the  same  farmers  have  been  coming  back  every  year  and  reporting  on  the  progress 
they  have  made  from  year  to  year — whether  the  instruction  they  have  received  has  made 
them  better  farmers.  They  found  it  rather  hard  to  get  accurate  measurements  for  quite  a 
while.  They  overcame  this,  however,  eventually,  and  learned  to  give  rather  accurate  figures 
on  all  produce  raised.  We  will  take  the  two  reports  for  the  years  1912  and  1913  and  see 
the  difference,  after  very  careful  instruction  in  the  winter,  between  the  two  crops  grown,  on 
proper  diversification  of  crops,  on  deep  cultivation,  the  proper  application  of  fertilizers,  and 
top-dressing  of  winter  grain  with  nitrate  of  soda.  The  following  table  shows  the  result: 

Crops  1912                         1913 

Bushels  corn  raised 10,221                       12,636 

Bushels  oats  raised 2,830                        4,923 

Bushels   wheat   raised 743                        1,065 

Bushels  rye  raised 42                             64^2 

Bales   cotton   raised 1,072                         1,136 

Bales  hay  raised 5,342                        6,972 

Landed   possessions 2,850.7  acres           3,066.7  acres 

Land   cultivated 2,762  acres           2,706     acres 

Greatest  yield  per  acre  of  corn 50  bushels            75     bushels 

Greatest  yield  per  acre  of  cotton 1^  bales                  2     bales 

Live  Stock  Owned 

Mules,  head 126  127 

Horses,  head 40  37 

Cows,   head , 125  130 

Hogs,   head 185  225 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  65 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  members  of  this  conference  owned  more  acres  but  culti 
vated  less  acres  in  1913  than  in  1912.  It  will  also  be  observed  that  they  raised  far  bigger 
crops  in  1913  than  in  1912.  In  fact,  they  actually  produced  $8,867  more  farm  produce  in 
1913  than  in  1912,  and  they  did  it  on  56  acres  less  land.  The  conference  cost  them  prac 
tically  nothing;  it  lasts  two  days  annually,  and  many  of  the  members  return  home  at  night 
to  look  after  the  farm.  They  increased  their  earning  capacity  about  $88  per  capita  in  one 
year  by  getting  definite  instruction  in  the  elementary  principles  of  agriculture.  The  tenants 
learned  the  lessons  and  used  them.  The  hired  hands  did  the  same.  They  made  more  for 
the  landowners  and  for  themselves.  These  are  facts,  not  theories.  There  are  other  con 
ferences  in  different  places  doing  just  as  good  work. 

I  would  like  to  have  time  to  tell  many  interesting  things  about  this  one  conference, 
but  time  does  not  permit.  I  must  go  on  to  the  next  division  of  the  work. 

CLUB  WORK  AMONG  NEGROES 

I  wish  that  I  might  have  had  the  time  and  what  little  funds  I  needed  to  get  together 
this  information.  My  own  State,  Georgia,  has  practically  no  Negro  club  work  at  all.  The 
three  States  that  are  active  along  this  line,  and  from  which  I  get  my  information,  are  Vir 
ginia,  North  Carolina,  and  Oklahoma.  Prof.  N.  C.  Newbold,  State  Agent  Rural  Schools 
for  North  Carolina,  has  given  me  much  assistance  in  getting  together  the  information  from 
that  State,  and  a  colored  teacher,  Miss  Annie  Peters,  has  helped  me  to  get  information  about 
Oklahoma. 

In  North  Carolina  there  are  fourteen  counties  organized  in  this  work,  and  the  General 
Education  Board  gives  $884  with  which  to  pay  the  salaries  of  the  instructors.  Each  county 
has  a  definite  program  of  work  and  an  instructor  for  a  definite  period  of  time.  In  some 
counties  as  much  as  fourteen  weeks  are  given  to  club  work,  while  in  others  four  weeks 
are  given.  To  do  the  work  in  all  these  counties  requires  more  than  one  instructor  doing 
work  at  any  one  time.  The  entire  time  devoted  to  the  work  equals  132  weeks  of  service. 
The  first  question  that  arises  in  the  mind  of  a  Southern-born  person  is,  "Will  the 
Negro  take  to  this  kind  of  work  with  any  degree  of  seriousness?" 

The  following  figures  will  answer  this  query.  There  were  organized  in  the  State  73 
boys'  and  girls'  clubs  and  25  men's  and  women's  clubs.  Enrolled  in  these  clubs  were  580  boys 
and  girls  and  316  men  and  women.  Three  hundred  and  seven  gardens  were  cultivated 
under  the  direction  of  the  supervisor,  and  there  was  a  total  of  793  people  cultivating 
gardens.  In  this  short  report  we  have  time  to  deal  only  with  totals  for  the  entire  fourteen 
counties. 

There  were  canned  in  1914 : 

7,466  cans  tomatoes. 
6,790  cans  corn  and  other  vegetables. 
17,197  cans  fruits — apples,  peaches,  pears. 
7,857  cans  berries. 
4,367  cans  fruits,  preserves,  etc. 
4,575  glasses  jelly. 
256  jars  pickles  and  catsup. 


66  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

This  makes  a  total  of  49,301  cans  of  vegetables,  fruits,  preserves,  jellies,  and  pickles, 
which,  valued  at  the  low  average  of  15  cents  per  can,  would  be  worth  $7,395.  The  instruction 
for  this  cost  only  $844,  as  we  stated  above,  which  leaves  $6,551  to  the  credit  of  the  venture, 
or  an  average  of  $7.35  per  person  enrolled. 

Presuming  that  the  training  received  even  more  than  paid  for  the  time  and  work  of 
the  students,  every  dollar  invested  returned  $7.35,  to  say  nothing  of  the  lift  it  gave  to  the 
people. 

The  following  summarizes  the  reports  of  agents  from  some  of  the  counties;  quota 
tions  from  reports  of  agents: 

"At  least  $150  for  three  locations."  "Aside  from  practical  knowledge  of  gardening 
given,  work  has  meant  a  saving  of  at  least  $700  to  the  families  in  the  county."  "About 
$95.00  to  $100.00"  (meaning  value  of  canned  goods).  "A  higher  standard  was  set  in  com 
munities  where  this  work  was  carried  on."  "It  was  very  gratifying  to  see  the  interest 
manifested  by  the  mothers  and  even  the  fathers."  "A  start  in  good  gardens."  "Work 
done  worth  thousands  of  dollars  in  the  future."  "The  work  has  aroused  much  interest  in 
home  gardening."  "In  many  cases  the  women  were  more  eager  to  learn  than  the  girls." 
"The  work  has  meant  much."  "The  work  has  been  a  decided  success."  "The  women  and 
girls  were  highly  pleased  in  learning  to  can  the  new  way."  "The  people  have  thanked  me 
over  and  over  for  the  help  I  have  given  thm."  "Worth  about  $200.00." 

In  many  places  it  is  thought  that  this  kind  of  work  among  Negroes  would  find  very 
little  or  no  support  from  State  and  county  officials  along  educational  lines.  On  the  con 
trary,  we  find  just  the  opposite,  as  will  be  shown  from  the  following  comments  on  the 
work  made  by  the  county  superintendents  of  education: 

"It  is  hard  to  estimate  the  value  .  .  .  They  tell  me  many  families  have  saved 
supplies  for  the  winter,  whereas  before  they  did  not  save  anything."  "I  hope  the  work 
will  be  continued."  "I  am  favorably  impressed,  and  think  the  work  well  worth  the  money." 
"I  heartily  endorse  the  work.  It  is  encouraging  to  see  with  what  enthusiasm  the  people 
are  taking  hold  of  it."  "We  hope  to  continue  the  work."  "The  people  are  interested,  and 
the  work  has  been  a  success." 

From  Oklahoma  we  get  good  reports,  but  the  information  is  not  so  well  wrought  out. 
In  that  State  584  boys  and  girls  have  joined  the  clubs,  and  some  of  them  have  won  prizes 
at  county  fairs,  and  many  have  canned  food  for  winter  supplies.  One  girl  put  up  75  cans 
of  vegetables  for  home  use. 

The  third  phase  of  the  subject  to  which  I  have  devoted  attention  is  the  Relation  of 
Savings  to  Citizenship,  or  whether  the  Negro  who  saves  is  more  desirable  as  a  neighbor 
than  the  one  who  fails  to  save. 

I  have  also  planned  to  investigate  if  the  habit  of  saving  goes  hand  in  hand  with 
training  and  efficiency,  and  how  the  Negro  who  saves  is  regarded  by  his  white  neighbors. 
This  is  a  big  question,  and  will  require  time  to  work  out. 

For  collecting  this  data  I  have  had  the  cooperation  of  the  Phelps-Stokes  Fellow  in 
the  University  of  Georgia  and  of  Dr.  H.  W.  Odum,  Professor  of  Rural  Education. 

Blanks  have  been  printed  and  circulated  by  an  Athens  banker  to  other  bankers 
throughout  the  State  of  Georgia,  asking  for  amounts  deposited  in  the  banks  by  Negroes, 
and  for  the  names  of  Negroes,  so  the  question  can  be  taken  up  directly  with  the  depositors. 
Many  difficulties  are  in  the  way  of  this  piece  of  work,  but  the  following  shows  the  general 
drift  of  the  investigation: 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  67 

Certain  elementary  conclusions  are  evident  from  the  study  of  results.  First:  It  is 
very  difficult  to  obtain  information  concerning  Negro  thrift.  Second :  The  amount  of 
Negro  deposits  in  banks  is  small.  Third:  The  banks,  as  a  rule,  make  no  effort  to  obtain 
Negro  deposits.  Fourth :  In  some  cases  such  deposits  are  discouraged.  Fifth :  The  atti 
tude  of  the  average  bank  reporting  shows  little  interest  in  the  subject  and  the  usual 
dogmatism.  Sixth :  There  are  exceptions  showing  interest  in  this  question.  Seventh : 
There  are  numerous  exceptions  showing  thrift  among  the  Negroes. 

Further  conclusions  concerning  the  details  of  thrift  may  be  gained  from  an  examina 
tion  of  the  following  facts: 

(1)  Some  40  per  cent  of  the  banks  to  whom  questionnaires  were  sent  replied. 

(2)  Of  these  replies,  about  16  per  cent  gave  us  little  or  no  information. 

(3)  Of  the  Negro  depositors,  the  following  occupations  were  represented:   merchants, 
farmers,   laborers,   servants,   laundresses,   teachers,   ministers,   housekeepers,   draymen,   mail 
carriers,  hotel  keepers,  and  a  few  skilled  workers. 

(4)  Of   these,   fully  60  per   cent  were   farmers,   the  next  in   order  being  laborers, 
servants,  teachers,  merchants,  ministers. 

(5)  The  deposits  ranged  from  $1,000,  the  largest,  to  4  cents,  the  smallest,  while  the 
average  deposit  was  $88.36. 

(6)  The  length  of  time  in  which  the  deposit  has  been  carried  varied  from  twelve 
years  to  a  few  months,  the  average  being  about  \l/2  years. 

(7)  Of  the  depositors,  the  most  common  amounts  reported  were  between  $20.00  and 
$30.00  and  between  $100.00  and  $200.00. 

(8)  Some  of  the  banks  wrote  that  the  Negroes'  accounts  meant  nothing,  and  were 
more  trouble  than  they  were  worth.     One  wrote:    "We  have  no  accounts,  and  want  none." 
Another  wrote:    "Negroes  can  not  stand   prosperity,   so  what's  the  use   of   wasting  time 
with  them?     All  that  a  Negro  needs  is  something  to  eat  and  wear.    A  big  per  cent  of  the 
criminals  are  Negroes  that  can  read  and  write,  and  most  of  the  murderers  are  Negroes 
that  are  educated  Negroes.    If  a  Negro  gets  money  he  is  sure  to  invest  it  in  a  place  where 
you  would  rather  he  would  not  be.     A  city  might  need  increase  in  thrift,  and  raise  the 
Negroes  to  a  higher  standing,  but  the  country  needs  more  work  done." 

(9)  Some  15  banks  reported  no  Negro  deposits  at  all. 

THE  POSSIBLE   SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THIS  LINE  OF  INVESTIGATION 

In  Alabama  alone  the  Negroes  own  and  control  5,100,000  acres  of  land,  or 
350,000  acres  more  than  they  controlled  in  1900.  They  actually  farm  3,563,000  acres,  or 
500,000  more  than  they  farmed  in  1900.  In  ten  years  the  number  of  Negro  farmers  increased 
over  17  per  cent. 

The  soil  will  forever  remain  the  basis  of  our  source  of  supplies,  and  we  should  be 
interested  in  any  movement  to  improve  the  soil,  and  especially  if,  by  so  doing,  we  shall  be 
able  to  improve,  at  the  same  time,  the  citizens  who  till  the  soil.  Laying  aside  all  feeling 
in  the  matter,  it  should  be  our  desire  to  help  foster  justice  and  happiness  among  any  people 
that  contribute  largely  to  our  own  happiness.  If  by  making  the  Negro  a  better  producer 
we  can  as  easily  make  him  a  better  citizen  and  a  happier  individual,  how  shall  we  justify 
ourselves  in  a  failure  to  do  this?  Booker  Washington  said:  "In  nine  cases  out  of  ten, 
where  a  Negro  in  the  South  is  found  owning  property,  he  has  had  an  individual  white  man 
or  a  group  of  Southern  white  men  to  help  guide  and  encourage  him  in  this  respect." 
(Atlanta  Journal,  January  13,  1910.) 


68  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

In  "A  Social  Study  of  the  Race  Problem/'  by  Dr.  R.  P.  Brooks,  we  find  from  his 
investigations  that  the  Negro  is  a  better  citizen  and  is  thought  better  of  among  his  white 
neighbors  in  communities  where  there  are  few  of  them  in  proportion  to  the  whites.  This 
study  indicates  a  need  of  increasing  the  whites  in  proportion  to  the  blacks,  which  he  sug 
gests  might  be  done  in  two  ways,  viz.:  by  the  emigration  of  Negroes  to  other  sections  of 
the  country,  and  by  encouraging  the  immigration  of  white  people  to  the  South. 

Dr.  Brooks  also  concluded  from  his  investigation  that  (page  210)  a  system  of  land 
tenure,  known  as  the  "Standing  Rent  System,"  is  the  cause  of  much  thriftlessness  among 
Negroes,  while  the  Negro  prefers  this  to  the  other  prevailing  system  called  "Cropping 
System,"  by  which  the  renter  pays  a  certain  per  cent  of  the  crops,  and  the  landlord  super 
vises  in  a  measure  the  operations  of  the  farm.  It  was  found  that  the  Negro  preferred 
freedom  even  at  the  expense  of  a  better  livelihood.  In  the  counties  where  the  whites 
largely  outnumbered  the  blacks  the  Cropping  System  prevailed  and  the  Negroes  became 
more  thrifty  and  eventually  became  landowners. 

The  first  published  report  of  the  Phelps-Stokes  Fellowship  at  the  University  of 
Georgia,  by  T.  J.  Woofter,  Jr.,  shows  clearly  the  necessity  for  better  training  among  the 
Negro  servants.  There  is  a  great  financial  loss  to  the  white  homes  of  the  South  on  account 
of  the  inefficiency  of  Negro  servants.  Besides,  their  ignorance  of  the  laws  of  health  makes 
us  question  the  safety  of  employing  such  help  at  all.  When  they  are  a  little  better  trained 
they  desert  the  homes  and  do  other  things.  Adjustment  is  much  needed  here. 

In  the  second  published  report  of  the  Phelps-Stokes  Fellowship  of  the  University  of 
Georgia,  by  W.  B.  Hill,  it  was  discovered  that  there  were  912  Negro  farmers  in  the  County 
of  Clarke,  while  there  were  only  470  white  farmers.  Fourteen  per  cent  of  the  Negroes 
owned  their  farms,  while  37  per  cent  of  the  farmers  owned  the  farms  they  were  working. 
While  there  was  a  much  larger  per  cent  of  white  farmers  owning  their  land,  yet  almost 
as  many  Negroes  own  farms  in  Clarke  County  as  white.  In  fact,  127  Negroes  and  163  whites 
own  farms  in  the  county.  It  was  learned  in  this  investigation  that  a  lack  of  training  on 
the  part  of  Negroes  proves  very  costly. 

The  Phelps-Stokes  Fellow  at  the  University  of  Georgia  this  year  is  Mr.  W.  H. 
Johnston,  who  is  working  on  the  present  status  of  Negro  education  in  Georgia.  From 
his  findings  up  to  the  present  time  it  would  seem  that  the  efforts  along  this  line  are  so 
meager  that  they  could  almost  be  considered  wasted.  The  work  is  inadequate  and  spread 
out  so  thin  that  it  makes  very  little  impression  on  the  race. 

Governor  O'Neal,  a  few  days  ago,  while  on  a  visit  to  Tuskegee,  said  of  Alabama :  "If 
we  take  our  proper  position  as  a  State  in  agricultural  development,  the  scientific  knowledge 
and  skill  which  we  furnish  from  our  schools  and  institutions  must  be  furnished  to  every 
man  that  tills  the  soil  in  this  State  if  we  are  to  reach  the  highest  agricultural  development. 

"Again,  can  any  State  afford  to  leave  any  portion  of  its  population  in  ignorance? 
Elementary  education  should  be  the  birthright  of  every  son  and  every  daughter  of  the 
State,  because  ignorance  has  ever  been  the  deadly  foe  of  free  government." 

Reverting,  then,  to  the  idea  with  which  we  set  out  in  this  report,  if  we  wish  efficiency, 
and  if  the  basis  of  efficiency  is  special  training  and  instruction,  and  if  the  safety  of  the 
State  and  of  the  health  of  the  people  shall  depend  on  efficiency  which  comes  only  by 
instruction,  then  I  am  prepared  to  believe  that  the  South  will  awake  and  press  forward  to 
its  completion  this  great  work  of  racial  adjustment  by  making  a  close  study  of  the  needs 
of  her  citizenship  and  then  supplying  this  need. 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  69 

(E) 

THE  ECONOMIC  CONDITION  OF  THE  NEGROES  OF  KNOXVILLE 

(By  R.   G.   Sanford,  Student  in  the  University  of  Tennessee.     Presented  at  the  Fourth 
Meeting,  Washington,  D.  C,  December  15,  1914,  by  Prof.  James  D.  Hoskins) 

A  survey  of  the  city  shows  that  the  Negro  of  Knoxville  has  made  much  progress 
during  recent  years.  His  present  condition  is  not  ideal,  by  any  means,  but  is  such  as 
should  cause  satisfaction  to  the  people  of  this  city,  since  it  shows  progress. 

The  Negro  has  made  consistent  gains  in  savings,  and  to-day  we  find  a  very  good  pro 
portion  of  the  Negroes  owning  homes  and  carrying  bank  accounts.  The  cashiers  and 
presidents  of  the  banks  have  been  called  upon  and  asked  to  give  estimates  as  to  the  number 
of  depositors,  both  white  and  black,  and  an  estimate  as  to  the  average  size  of  each  race's 
account.  The  estimates  were  made  in  a  careful  and  conservative  way.  When  we  take 
into  account  the  number  of  banks  called  upon,  and  the  fact  that  they  represent  the  savings 
of  the  city  and  county,  we  can  see  the  value  of  such  an  investigation.  The  result  of  this 
investigation  shows,  first:  that  the  relative  size  of  the  Negro  account  is  small  as  compared 
with  that  of  the  white  man;  and,  second:  that  the  number  of  Negro  bank  accounts  as 
compared  with  the  white  is  small.  The  average  bank  account  of  the  Negro  is  about 
$50.00  as  compared  with  the  average  white  account  of  about  $300.00.  There  is  a  total  of 
1,300  Negro  depositors  out  of  a  population  for  the  county  of  12,709.  Then  only  10  per  cent 
are  depositors  at  the  bank.  There  are  35,000  white  depositors  out  of  a  population  of  81,476, 
which  means  that  43  per  cent  carry  bank  accounts.  The  county  was  taken  for  the  basis 
of  comparison,  since  the  banks  more  nearly  represent  the  savings  of  the  county.  Although 
the  number  and  average  size  of  the  colored  bank  account  is  small,  it  shows  progress.  We 
must  not  forget  that  the  Negro  started  fifty  years  ago  without  anything.  When  he  was 
released  from  the  bonds  of  slavery  he  knew  nothing  of  saving  or  thrift  as  compared  with 
the  white  man.  He  had  only  been  civilized  then  for  about  half  a  century.  He  was  young 
in  the  civilized  world  to  work  beside  the  older  and  stronger  man  of  many  centuries  of 
civilization.  The  complexity  of  modern  civilization  was  too  great  for  a  people  of  so  simple 
life.  We  should  feel  gratified  at  his  gains,  although  his  present  holdings  appear  small  as 
compared  with  the  white  man. 

The  colored  man  has  learned  some  valuable  lessons  from  the  white.  It  seems  that 
the  white  people  of  Knoxville  have  shown  a  friendlier  disposition  to  help  the  Negro  than 
the  average  Southern  city.  We  can  see  the  value  of  this  cooperation  when  we  see  that  the 
domestic  servant  is  the  best  class  of  savers  among  the  Negro  race,  for  in  this  service  the 
Negro  is  brought  in  close  contact  with  the  white  race  and  in  a  friendlier  spirit  than  in 
any  other  work  the  Negro  performs.  The  family  in  whose  home  the  Negro  is  working 
takes  an  interest  in  the  cook  or  maid  and  insists  that  she  begin  a  savings  account.  Some 
banks  have  found  it  necessary  to  make  some  discrimination  in  opening  accounts  with 
Negroes  because  they  tend  to  run  very  short-time  accounts,  with  expense  unproportionate 
to  the  value  of  the  account.  By  far  the  greater  number  of  the  colored  accounts  are  found 
in  the  savings  department.  Among  other  interesting  points  of  information,  there  are 
quite  a  number  of  one-dollar  accounts  among  the  Negroes;  on  the  other  hand,  there  are 
Negroes  carrying  sufficient  deposits  to  write  checks  running  up  into  the  thousands  of 
dollars. 


70  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

The  Negroes  have  saved  sufficient  amounts  to  buy  homes.  During  the  last  fifteen  or 
twenty  years  there  has  been  a  remarkable  increase  in  home  owning  among  the  Negroes. 
This  statement  is  based  upon  estimates  given  by  a  number  of  real  estate  managers,  cashiers 
of  banks,  and  leaders  among  the  colored  race.  The  estimates  of  the  percentage  of  increased 
home  owning  have  varied  considerably,  but  considering  as  my  best  source  of  authority  the 
companies  that  have  been  in  business  over  the  longest  period  of  time  and  have  undoubtedly 
made  the  greatest  number  «of  real  estate  sales,  since  they  have  the  largest  part  of  the  busi 
ness,  I  state  that  there  has  been  an  increase  in  home  owning  during  the  period  just  men 
tioned  of  100  per  cent.  I  give  this  as  a  very  conservative  estimate.  One  man  in  a  position 
to  know  estimated  the  increase  as  high  as  400  per  cent.  While  there  has  been  this  great 
increase  in  home  owning,  there  is  as  yet  a  relatively  small  number  of  Negroes  who  now 
own  their  homes.  I  would  say  that  30  per  cent  would  be  a  fair  estimate,  averaging  all  the 
Negro  sections  of  the  city. 

The  condition  of  the  Negro  homes  will  not  favorably  compare  with  the  homes  of 
the  white  people  of  Knoxville  as  a  whole;  a  fair  percentage  of  the  Negro  homes  are  in 
moderately  gpod  condition. 

This  leads  to  the  discussion  of  segregation.  The  Negroes  have  segregated  themselves 
in  three  or  four  sections  of  the  city,  the  two  principal  segregated  districts  being  Mechanics- 
ville,  in  North  Knoxville,  and  a  section  of  East  Knoxville,  with  Vine  Street  as  a  central 
street  running  east  and  west.  This  segregation  is  the  result  of  natural  conditions  working 
to  the  best  interest  of  all,  as  was  suggested  by  a  prominent  Negro  leader  and  emphasized 
by  some  white  leaders.  The  Negroes  bought  out  the  property  of  the  whites  in  each  section 
gradually.  People  who  live  in  the  Negro  section  say  that  the  property  has  not  decreased  in 
value  as  a  result  of  the  increased  number  of  Negro  homes ;  rather  the  property  has 
increased  in  value  in  the  same  proportion  as  the  other  property  in  the  city. 

Next,  and  closely  allied  to  the  savings,  is  the  credit  of  the  Negro.  The  Negro 
abuses  the  credit  system ;  that  is,  a  proportionately  greater  number  of  Negroes  ask  for 
credit  than  do  the  whites.  Twice  as  many  whites  trade  with  installment  credit  stores  as 
do  the  Negroes,  but,  considering  the  population  of  one  Negro  to  six  whites,  we  find  that 
the  Negro  frequents  these  stores  three  times  as  often  as  do  the  whites.  The  result  of  a 
visit  with  a  pawnshop  proprietor  showed  that,  according  to  the  population,  the  Negro  fre 
quents  this  place  of  business  six  times  as  often  as  does  the  white  man. 

As  a  debtor  the  Negro  account  is  held  more  valuable  than  the  white  man  on  the 
same  economic  plane.  All  men  consulted  on  this  point — the  installment  house,  the  collection 
agency,  and  the  real  estate  firms'  representatives — were  agreed  on  this  question.  The  prin 
cipal  reasons  advanced  as  to  why  the  Negro  account  was  more  valuable  than  the  white  are : 
First,  that  while  heads  of  the  families  of  the  two  races  are  working  for  the  same  amount, 
the  Negro  family  has  an  additional  source  of  income  because  the  Mother  and  children 
find  employment  of  various  kinds.  Second,  the  living  expense  of  the  Negro  family  is  less 
than  that  of  the  white.  Third,  the  Negro  is  less  intelligent  and,  therefore,  more  easily 
forced  to  pay  his  obligations.  Fourth,  the  Negro  is  more  honest.  This  may  have  some 
value  when  we  think  of  the  Negro  as  a  young  and  innocent  race  as  compared  with  the  white 
race  of  much  maturity  in  the  scale  of  civilization. 

As  a  social  problem  we  are  interested  in  finding  out  the  tendency  of  the  Negro  toward 
poverty.  Under  this  head  we  are  interested  in  the  results  of  the  investigation  of  the 
Associated  Charities,  of  the  County  Alms  House,  and  the  Free  Clinic.  The  annual  report 
of  the  Associated  Charities  for  the  year  ending  November  1,  1914,  shows  that  792  white 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  71 

families  applied  for  help  as  compared  with  71  Negro  families.  This  means  that  the  white 
man  calls  for  charity  twice  as  often  as  does  the  Negro.  The  usual  relief  given  the  Negro 
was  employment,  while  that  given  the  white  man  was  more  often  material  aid.  When  we 
turn  our  attention  to  the  County  Alms  House  we  find  nearly  the  same  results  as  estab 
lished  by  the  Associated  Charities.  There  are  sixty  whites  to  six  Negroes.  The  third 
institution  to  be  treated  under  poverty  brings  out  the  exception  to  the  rule  established  in 
the  two  institutions  first  considered.  At  the  Free  Clinic  there  are  two  Negroes  to  receive 
free  treatment  to  one  white  man. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  condition  of  the  Negro  in  Knoxville  is  probably  better 
than  in  most  other  cities  of  the  South.  The  factors  determining  his  well-being  are:  First, 
fewness  in  numbers  means  greater  opportunities.  Second,  good  advice  from  the  leaders  of 
his  own  race  who  have  made  a  success.  Third,  the  friendly  disposition  of  the  two  races 
and  the  good  advice  of  the  whites. 

In  the  conclusion  of  this  paper  I  want  to  sum  up,  as  briefly  as  possible,  the  results 
of  the  survey.  First,  as  to  the  savings  in  comparison  with  the  whites,  the  number  of  Negro 
bank  depositors  is  small,  and  so  is  the  relative  size  of  their  accounts.  The  Negro  has 
increased  in  home  owning  during  the  last  fifteen  years  at  a  rapid  rate;  the  condition  of 
his  home  is  from  poor  to  fair ;  still  a  relatively  small  per  cent  own  their  homes.  Second, 
segregation  has  been  brought  about  by  a  natural  law.  Third,  the  Negro  abuses  the  credit 
system,  but  is  considered  a  better  debtor  than  the  white  man  on  the  same  economic  plane. 
Fourth,  as  to  poverty,  out  of  the  three  relief  institutions,  two  show  that  he  does  not  call 
for  help  in  proportion  to  his  numbers.  Fifth,  the  factors  that  have  meant  most  to  his  well- 
being  in  Knoxville  are  good  leaders  among  his  own  race  who  have  made  a  success,  good 
advice  from  the  whites,  and,  last,  fewness  in  numbers  has  meant  greater  opportunity. 

THE  ECONOMIC  CONDITION  OF  THE  NEGROES  OF  TENNESSEE 

Of  the  total  population  of  2,184,789  for  the  State  of  Tennessee,  473,088,  or  21.7  per 
cent,  are  Negroes.  That  is,  there  is  an  average  for  the  State  of  four  whites  to  one  Negro. 
There  has  been  a  decrease  in  the  population  of  the  State,  1900-1910,  of  1  per  cent  of 
Negroes  as  compared  with  an  increase  of  8.1  per  cent  for  the  entire  population  of  the  State. 
Of  the  total  473,088  Negroes,  there  are  114,544  in  the  four  principal  cities.  About  one- 
fourth  of  the  Negroes  live  in  these  cities,  and  nearly  half  of  this  number  live  in  Memphis. 
There  we  find  52,441,  or  40  per  cent,  of  the  total  population  of  the  city  are  Negroes.  Nash 
ville  has  a  total  Negro  population  of  36,523,  which  represents  23.1  per  cent  of  her  total 
population.  There  is  then  a  total  of  358,544  Negroes  living  outside  of  these  four  principal 
cities.  They  are  living  in  the  small  towns  and  rural  sections.  Of  the  total  number  (246,375) 
of  Negroes  engaged  in  gainful  occupations,  107,933  are  engaged  in  the  three  principal 
agricultural  groups,  or  nearly  50  per  cent  of  the  Negroes  do  farm  labor.  The  next  largest 
group  is  that  of  domestic  and  personal  service  of  62,598  Negroes,  or  about  25  per  cent.  The 
next  in  order  is  the  unskilled  trades  group  of  30,000,  or  about  8  per  cent.  The  remaining 
17  per  cent  are  scattered  among  the  skilled  trades  and  professions. 

The  rural  conditions  were  studied  by  means  of  a  questionnaire  conducted  in  our  State 
University.  The  questions  were  given  to  the  upper-classmen.  The  papers  received  were 
from  forty-one  pupils,  representing  29  counties,  distributed  over  the  State"  in  the  following 
proportion :  East  Tennessee  7,  Middle  Tennessee  12,  and  West  Tennessee  10.  The  answers 
given  to  the  questions  are  based  on  estimates.  They  are  valuable,  since  they  show,  in  the 
main,  what  seems  to  be  the  conditions  prevailing  in  Tennessee. 


72       .  MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION 

These  reports  show  that  a  small  number  of  Negroes  pay  cash  rent  for  their  land, 
probably  15  per  cent,  and  that  about  75  per  cent  of  the  Negroes  living  on  the  farm  pay 
rent  by  share;  probably  about  10  per  cent  of  the  Negroes  in  the  rural  districts  own  their 
homes.  The  papers  were  explicit  and  uniform  in  the  conclusion  as  to  the  conditions  of  the 
homes  of  all  the  Negroes  on  the  farm,  namely,  that  they  are  in  poor  condition.  On  the 
question  pertaining  to  the  numbers  who  owned  sufficient  work  stock  to  make  a  crop  with, 
and  the  condition  of  the  same,  the  papers  showed  that  about  one-fourth  of  the  Negroes 
owned  sufficient  stock,  that  the  stock  was  poorly  cared  for  and  is  of  a  cheap  grade.  The 
greater  portion  of  the  Negroes — about  three-fourths — buy  their  supplies  on  a  credit.  The 
last  question  was  intended  to  find  out  the  efficiency  of  the  Negro  as  compared  with 
foreigners.  Since  the  number  of  foreigners  in  the  State  is  so  small — only  18,459,  or  less 
than  1  per  cent  of  the  total  population  of  the  State — the  answer  to  this  question  can  not 
be  of  so  much  general  value.  But  in  every  case  where  there  was  an  appreciable  number 
of  foreigners  they  were  reported  to  be  far  more  thrifty  and  efficient  than  the  Negro. 

(F) 

AN  OPEN  LETTER  ON  LYNCHING  TO  THE  STUTTGART  (ARK.)   COMMITTEE 

The  press  of  the  State  has  recently  published  a  letter  purporting  to  come  from  a 
committee  of  the  mob  which  lynched  the  Negro  at  Stuttgart.  Of  course  they  seek  to 
justify  their  action.  In  view  of  this  and  of  other  lynchings  in  this  and  other  States,  the 
following  facts,  as  given  in  the  address  of  the  Race  Commission  last  winter,  (Jan.  5,  1916), 
ought  to  be  of  interest  to  the  Stuttgart  committee  and  to  the  people  of  the  State: 

[Here  follow  the  statistics.] 

The  Stuttgart  committee  signed  themselves,  "Yours  for  the  proper  and  unfailing 
enforcement  of  the  law."  "On  the  contrary,  if  the  law  were  enforced  now  you  would  be 
on  the  way  to  the  gallows,"  I  would  say  to  this  committee.  "You  are  undermining  all 
respect  for  the  law.  One  of  the  dearest  rights  to  every  American  is  the  right  of  trial  in 
open  court,  yet  you  have  robbed  the  victim  of  this  right.  In  doing  this  you  have  paved  the 
way  to-  the  violation  of  other  rights.  Where  will  it  end?  The  above  figures  show  that 
lynching  is  now  used  for  trivial  crimes,  sometimes,  no  doubt,  for  personal  spite  or  vengeance. 
Lynching  is  a  serious  social  disease,  and  you  are  helping  to  spread  it.  Six  Negroes  were 
lynched  last  week,  one  in  Texas  and  five  in  Florida. 

"You  say  that  your  victim  was  charged  with  a  heinous  crime.  True,  and  if  guilty  he 
deserved  the  extreme  penalty  of  the  law.  You  say  that  he  confessed  to  you.  Granted. 
Then  people  who  believe  in  the  death  penalty  must  admit  that  he  deserved  to  die. 

"But  in  civilized  countries  only  one  authority  is  allowed  to  kill — the  State.  You  have 
lynched  both  the  victim  and  the  law. 

"Why  have  you  done  this?  Perhaps  you  will  say,  'Because  of  the  law's  delays.  If 
left  to  the  courts,  there  not  only  would  have  been  delay,  he  might  even  have  failed  of 
conviction.' 

"You  also  claim  to  have  hanged  him  in  as  humane  a  manner  as  possible.  His  death, 
you  claim,  was  much  more  humane  than  that  of  Sir  Roger  Casement  recently  executed  in 
England  for  treason. 


MINUTES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COMMISSION  73 

"But  let  us  compare  your  action  with  that  of  the  English  people.  Treason  is  a  fear 
ful  crime,  yet  they  left  it  to  the  courts.  So  far  as  I  have  seen,  there  was  no  talk  of  lynching. 
Indeed,  I  think  that  lynching  is  practically  unknown  in  England.  There  was  little  delay 
in  the  courts,  and  there  was  punishment. 

"Our  courts  sometimes  are  slow,  and  there  are  exasperating  delays,  but  will  lynching 
the  accused  improve  the  courts?  Why  not  begin  on  our  judges,  lawyers,  and  juries?  Can 
we  not  make  our  courts  as  good  as  those  of  the  English  people,  whose  descendants  we  are 
and  whose  courts  we  borrowed?  Yet  they  never  can  equal  the  English  courts  until  they 
are  backed  by  equal  respect  for  the  law  on  the  part  of  the  people.  Then  we  shall  have 
no  such  outbreaks  of  lynchings  as  frequently  occur  in  Georgia  and  occurred  last  week  in 
Florida." 

As  there  are  no  "obvious  reasons"  for  withholding  my  name,  I  sign: 

"Yours  for  the  proper  and  unfailing  enforcement  of  the  law,"  including  the  sup 
pression  of  lynchings, 

DAVID  Y.  THOMAS. 


INDEX  OF  NAMES 


Abbott,   Lyman,   50. 

Bain,  Mrs.  C.  W.,  25. 
Banks,  Charles,  52. 
Battle,  K.  P.,  37. 
Bell,  J.  C.,  24,  27,  31. 
Blackwell,  R.  E.,  13. 
Booker,  J.  A.,  52. 
Boyd,  W.  K.,  35. 
Brooks,  E.  C.,  35. 
Bryant,  R.  H.,  40. 

Caldwell,  B.  C.,  39. 
Campbell,  R.  F.,  40. 
Casement,  Sir  Roger,  72. 
Chase,  H.  W.,  37. 
Clark,  Willis,  40. 
Collins,  C.  W.,  56. 
Cook,  G.  B.,  51. 
Crandall,  Miss  Prudence,  55. 

Daniels,  John,  55. 
Davis,  Jackson,  13,  28. 
Dusenbury,  C.  B.,  40. 

Feagin,  W.  F.,  27. 
Few,  W.  P.,  32,  33,  35,  36. 
Flowers,  R.  L.,  35. 
Frissell,  H.  B.,  16,  43. 
Frissell,  Mrs.  H.  B.,  43. 

Galloway,  C.  B.,  53. 
Glasson,  W.  H.,  35,  36. 
Glocker,  T.  W.,  27. 
Graham,  E.  K.,  36. 

Hamilton,  J.  G.  DeR.,  37. 
Hammond,  Mrs.  J.  D.,  6,  43,  54. 
Harris,  W.  T.,  50. 
Haynes,  G.  E.,  43. 
Henderson,  Archibald,  37. 
Hill,  W.  B.,  68. 


(Not  including  members  of  Commission) 

Hoffman,  F.  L.,  51. 
Hope,  John,  42. 


Jackson,  B.  J.,  40. 

Jameson,  J.  F.,  6,  7. 

Johnson,  President  Andrew,  56. 

Johnston,  W.  H.,  68. 

Jones,  T.  J.,  20,  41. 

Kincannon,  A.  A.,  6,  8. 

Laprade,  W.  F,  35. 
Leavell,  R.  H.,  41. 
Lee,  W.  S.,  40. 
Leyburn,  E.  R.,  33,  34. 

McKissick,  Rion,  14. 
Merrick,  John,  34. 
Michael,  J.  H.,  40. 
Monroe,  Charles,  20. 
Montgomery,  Isaiah,  52. 
Moore,  A.  M,  33. 
Moton,  R.  R.,  16,  41,  52. 
Munford,  Mrs.  B.  B.,  14. 
Murphy,  E.  G.,  54. 

Newbold,  N.  C.,  65. 
Noble,  M.  C.  S.,  36. 

Odum,  H.  W.,  66. 
O'Neal,  Emmet,  68. 

Page,  W.  H.,  54. 
Peabody,  G.  F.,  41. 
Pennington,  J.  W.  C.,  55. 
Peters,  Miss  Annie,  65. 
Poe,  Clarence  H.,  36,  61,  62. 
Price,  Joseph,  52. 

Quillian,  C.  F.,  38. 

Ramsey,  D.  H.,  40. 
Rankin,  E.  L.,  36. 


INDEX 


75 


Raper,  C.  L.,  36. 
Reynolds,  C.  V.,  40. 
Riley,  W.  B.,  31. 
Rosenwald,  Julius,  41. 
Rushton,  J.  W.,  26. 

Sanford,  R.  G.,  22,  69. 
Sanford,  W.  H.,  28. 
Scott,  E.  J.,  31. 
Sibley,  J.  L,  25. 
Snaveley,  T.  R.,  41. 
Spalding,  C.  C.,  34. 
Spingarn,  J.  E.,  6,  12,  13. 
Stacy,  M.  H.,  36,  37. 
Stephenson,  G.  T.,  55,  58,  61. 
Stockton,  C.  H.,  20,  21. 
Stokes.  A.  P.,  19,  23,  32. 
Stone,  A.  H.,  54. 


Tyson,  F.  D.,  41. 
Venegar,  E.  T.,  52. 

Walker,  J.  W.,  40. 

Washington,  B.  T.,  28,  29,  30,  52,  55,  67. 

Weatherford,  W.  D.,  5,  25,  38,  49,  54. 

West,  G.  W.,  60. 

Williams,  H.  H.,  37. 

Williams,  W.  T.  B.,  31,  41. 

Wilson,  T.  J.,  36,  37. 

Wilson,  President  Woodrow,  18. 

Woofter,  T.  J.,  Jr.,  6,  41,  68. 

Work,  M.  N.,  42. 

Yates,  William,  55. 


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